Discussion: Every Fight is a Fight For Your Life by liviapenn; Gen

[lunabee34]

This is the discussion post for liviapenn's Every Fight is a Fight For Your Life, a Sora-centric gen piece that's rated PG-13.

Let's make this inaugural conversation a good one, y'all!

Comments

[helsmeta]

My thoughts were along the lines of... lifelong habits don't go away that quickly; the I'm-so-cute act is probably instinctive.

I had no trouble with this bit at all, and I'm not the least bit surprised she gave it her best shot. That makes a lot of sense for all the reasons you state here, and also because -- as a woman in the military -- she would know damn well that one of the ways to manipulate people, and especially to manipulate men, is to try to cultivate an image of yourself as harmless and needing protection. She's trying to get Ford and the others on her side, and even though it isn't working, I think it's a perfectly legit thing for her to do. (Another one of the reasons this was my favorite section.)

Perhaps, in a similar situation among the Genii, she could manage to convince her captors that she'd only unwillingly participated in the raid, but she was secretly on their side all along, etc. Of course this isn't how things work on Atlantis.

That's a really cool idea, and I wish I'd thought of it while reading. ^_^ The Genii are a lot more devious than I tend to give them credit for, given that usually SGA kicks their butts, but there's a lot more politicking and factionalism in them than there is among the Atlanteans, and I think it's precisely because it's so unfamiliar that I forget it's really there.

If I could go back and edit the story I'd add in a little note from Sora's POV as she's led back to her cell; Sora congratulating herself on manipulating McKay, making him so angry that he couldn't even continue the interview. Angry people can't think straight, and so McKay's interrogation failed and he didn't get any information out of her-- points to Sora!

I do get that read from her, or at least I certainly assume it -- Sora's behavior and motivations seem pretty obvious. It's McKay being an interrogator that leaves me wondering how he got that job; it seems so unlike anything else he ever does in Atlantis.