Attack of the Voracious Plot Bunnies
I had a friend earlier this week tease me about my wild imagination. She wanted to know what strange dimension opened up into my mind and spewed forth some of the stuff I come up with, what bizarre AU I channeled when I closed my eyes and the delta waves twitched into overdrive.
Well, this week I can honestly say it was all because of Lortab and sleep deprivation from passing a fucking kidney stone.
I had a couple dreams at the beginning of this week (damn dreams) that are now turning into words. Two chapters and counting as a matter of fact. Last time I had a dream that did this it produced a Stargate Atlantis fanfic and nearly 30,000 words in four weeks, evenings and weekends and an occassional hour or two and work. (And last year I had another dream that turned into a gorram novel in my original stuff.) Jeez, the new plot bunnies are furiously demanding attention, and I haven't even finished the third story in the SGA Guardian series that began back in May, all because of what was probably ten minute long dream about a forgotten temple in a jungle being guarded by an immortal shape-shifter....
AAARRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!
Anyhoo, the dreams had the characters from Atlantis, but it was an alternate universe kind of thing. Rodney was still incredibly obnoxious (yay), Carson was there (double yay), and some things were still recognizable. Atlantis was actually a think tank ala Eureka on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia, and John Sheppard was the newest, um, lab specimen. Oh, and Kolya was in charge and Chaya was one of the scientists. I remember John was really sick and they were afraid of losing him, and all the time he kept trying to get Chaya to call him by his name, not his lab number (which was 47). At one point Chaya told him, "They name the monkeys in the lab, but that still doesn't detract from the fact they are still just experiments." He called her cold, and she got very offended. Went off on a hilarious rant to Rodney later about not being cold. Wish I could remember that part more clearly - I woke up shortly after that (thanks to a cat who wanted under the damn covers and thought sitting on the headboard and slapping me on the head was the best way to achieve that goal) and lost that part of the dream.
So I laid there for awhile, and the little annoying writer voice in the back of my mind mulled it over and decided it had potential. Sometimes I really hate that voice, especially when the body is yelling at me to go back to sleep, and the voice is insisting that three hours is plenty of time, so quit being so gorram selfish....
So, next night I have a continuation. Starts with John strapped down to a stainless steel table in a lab, naked (he even said, "Say, does anyone else feel a draft?"), surrounded by a bunch of people. Beckett and Keller are there, so's Rodney and Zelenka back in a corner trying to be very unnoticeable, Chaya, and a few other people in lab coats.
And Kolya. With a cattle prod.
Now, I'm watching this whole thing from some unknown POV, like it was a movie or something, and I just know things are going to be bad. Kolya is telling John he knows what he is, and why doesn't he save himself some discomfort and change. John plays dumb and winds up getting hit in the stomach with the cattle prod. Kolya tells him to change again. John doesn't and gets nailed again. This time he starts growling, and it's a low rumbling thing like you'd hear from a very pissed off tiger. He calls Kolya some very un-nice names, and Kolya zaps him in the nuts. That did it - John shifts into this really cool were-black jaguar (got that from my Guardian series), snaps the strap holding his head down, and roars. Just about everyone freaks, except for Kolya, who just stands there and looks smug. Then John tells him he's going to kill him, and Kolya is genuinely surprised. "The others couldn't speak while in that form - why can you?"
And that's where pain woke me up. Damn kidney stone.
Well, I started to really think about it then and am now starting an Alternate Universe thing that is SGA meets a Kim Harrisson/ Nancy A. Collins/ Jim Butcher kind of universe, where the creatures of myth and legend are real and living among humans, albeit in disguise. Pretenders, and Nancy called them in a really great vampire novel called 'Sunglasses After Dark'.
So, two chapters down and growing.... Sigh.
I think I am cursed to be a writer. Or insane, one of the two.