FIC: An Off Day by MrsHamill (R)

[mrshamill]

An Off Day
by MrsHamill (mrshamill@gmail.com)

Archive: My site, Mom's Kitchen and mckay_sheppard. All others please ask

Comments

[sweeneybird]

this was great - I love your fucked up John. One of the things I wish the show had dealt with a little more was the way John took out all the Genii - it felt too matter of fact to fit with his characterization. Thanks for giving me a plausible reaction!

[mrshamill]

Well, yeah, this was the second place (the first was in Rising when he killed Sumner) that I really felt something else was going on. Flanagin plays Sheppard with humor and kindness and while I can see him turning into a cold killing machine, I can't see him not being affected by it. Like you said, it didn't quite fit with his characterization. The difficulty was figuring out how to make such vulnerabilities fit too. I'm glad you think it's a plausible one, and thanks.

[adafrog]

Very nice. Thanks.

[mrshamill]

Thank you! It's kinda grim, though, by design.

[mrshamill]

I can see Rodney having a bit of a nervous breakdown, but not long after the episode. I could see him having it immediately after the storm surge hits then just falling apart for a bit. By the end of the episode, he's gotten over his deal pretty much, but what did Sheppard do?

I'm glad you thought it worked, it was kind of hard to write and make it still believable in the characterization.

[yarnaddict]

Wow. Seriously, wow. I make it a point to read anything I see you post, and the quality of this story is the perfect example of why.

I can absolutely see this being 'real'; it's completely in character. It's powerful, painful, wrenching, hard to read and utterly amazing. Brava. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[mrshamill]

You're a sweetheart, thank you!

It was difficult to write this, I wanted it to feel in character and still wonder if it really is. I just felt that John wasn't the cold killing machine the writers were making him to be - and given that he basically falls to pieces not long after The Storm/Eye (in Hot Zone), this seemed far more plausible. I'm glad you think it was well done, and thanks again for letting me know!

[emrinalexander]

Terri - this is great, I love it. And I know you hate warnings, but the cutting thing is a trigger for some folks, you might want to warn for that just because.

[mrshamill]

Hokay me darlin', I bow to your superior knowledge. dodges kick ;-)

I really thought you might not like it, given the subject matter. But I really wanted to write it to see what would happen to a vulnerable John.

[emrinalexander]

I thought John's reaction was believable. I was watching a show on the Military Channel the other week and the Air Force pilots they were interviewing were talking about serving in Vietnam and one of them made the comment that while he had dropped bombs on targets and shot missiles at other fighter planes, he'd never had to kill anybody he was looking in the eye, and he was very happy about that fact. The other guy they talked to, who'd been shot down and had to fight his way out of occupied territory, did have to shoot a couple of people close up and he was still traumatized by what he had to do, 40 years later. So, John having to kill all those Genii up close and fairly personal and his reaction was very real. In fact, I like it a lot because it's the kind of sick horror that only a man with a real conscience, who isn't some kind of killing machine, could and would have. John isn't going to get over this, although he'll learn to live with himself over it, and I like how this story illustrates the difference between the two.

[mrshamill]

I love you. :-D

That's what I was aiming at, you betcha. Can I name the tribble Nansi?