TEAM PEACE: Feet of Clay, "The Weakness See"

[trobadora]

Title: The Weakness See
Author: mamadeb ( interview)
Team: Peace
Prompt: Feet of Clay
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: For once, no one was attacking them.
Notes: Thank you to my incomparable beta, mecurtin.

Once you've read the story, please take a moment to vote in the poll below. Ratings go from 1 (low) to 9 (high), so all you need

Comments

[rissabby]

The nanites were a surprise to me. I had no idea where you were going to go with futuristic cave painting. I liked the incongruity of the image.

I have a quibble though. I don't know where John gets his information Rodney's citrus allergy, but I object to fics that make light of it. (This also recently came up in comments over at SG-1 rewatch.)

Allergic reactions can range from mild sniffles to shock and death. They can also change. When people don't understand, or don't take seriously, a persons' food allergies they are contributing to a dangerous situation.

Many years ago I had eliminated a common food from my diet. I told everyone in the family, and still my sister made me a birthday dinner with the substance in it. I asked about it, and she explained that she only used "a tablespoon" in the whole dish. Fortunately, I got away with it that time. Years after that I ate a special luncheon that she cooked. I had an unexpected reaction to a new substance and I ended up in the emergency room. Since then, she's been very careful and explains to me what's in every meal she makes for me. (She's sort of an amateur gourmet cook.)

My sister is intelligent, educated (a university professor), sensitive and thoughtful. She's a wonderful person, who one time bought into the attitude that "allergies aren't a real health problem" and "a little won't hurt".

I have also learned to be more vigilant about knowing what is in food that other people prepare. And, I would be very upset to find out someone close to me didn't take me seriously.

[springwoof]

I also have food allergies to several seemingly-innocuous things, so I agree with you. That part of the fic didn't sit right with me either, but I didn't want to rain on the author's parade.

But the problem with food allergies? Is that nobody quite *believes* you. "Oh, a little won't hurt!" Or they somehow don't understand that if I have a wheat allergy, that I really *can't* eat something BREADED.

And whether or not an allergy is actually "deadly" isn't the point--even my mild allergies have unpleasant effects. Even though they won't outright kill me, it doesn't mean I want to suffer through those effects. However, lots of people won't pay the slightest bit of attention, or decide that since it's not fatal they don't have to care about it--so when I'm in public (in a restaurant or at someone else's house I don't know well) and inquiring about what something's made with, I make a point to emphasize that I have a *deadly serious* allergy--not because I'm a hypochondriac, but because many people would discount my possible suffering unless it's going to result in liability to *them*.

All that vented said, the "McKay is a hypochondriac, don't give his medical concerns any credence" shtick is squarely on the head of canon, and the author really didn't do more than the show itself did with regards to it. Come on! *Threatening* Rodney with a *lemon* to get him to behave? Oh, show!

[mamadeb]

This makes me sad. However, as a professional cook - we have to take those things seriously if we're told about them. Lawsuits, if nothing else, are bad.

And now I'm sounding flippant, and I'm sorry.

If someone says they have a food allergy, that should be respected no matter how mild or severe, and I'd be careful to never serve Rodney citrus, just as I don't serve ginger to my friend who can't eat that.

[mamadeb]

I'm sorry if I came across as not respecting food allergies - I most certainly do. I have any number of friends with them. I had to invent a nightshade free dish for a friend during Passover - and not using potatoes during Passover is a challenge.

However, I do not believe that SGC would have sent any one with a life-threatening allergy to a common food substance on that initial mission. I do think Rodney has or had a citrus allergy - perhaps as a very young child, oranges made his mouth sore (this is not uncommon) and he hasn't realized he's grown out of it, or he gets hives in contact with citrus oil. And, seriously, if citrus oil gave ME hives, I'd avoid ingesting fresh citrus, too, and I'm not a hypochondriac (I don't think.) And I'd certainly not touch a lemon because hives are hell. It's just not life-threatening.