John And Cam Are Awesome (And Here's Why): The 'No Penguins' Edition
Here's my first Shipper's Manifesto for stargateland! There will be another, one with more pictures, because pretty things are pretty. But for now:
Okay, it would be too easy for me to say “I ship John Sheppard/Cam Mitchell because they’re pretty’ (for proof, see: every picture of either one of them, ever) and be done with it. My thinking does, actually, go a little deeper than that, so here goes.
1. They both love to fly.
John joined the Air Force against his father’s wishes because he wanted to be in the air. Cam, on the other hand, followed his father into the service. They might have had very different paths to the sky, but once there, they both felt the same love for it, for flying in general.
2. They understand each other’s jobs.
They’ll both do anything to keep their teams safe, even at the cost of their own personal safety. They understand this about each other, so when one of them inevitably gets a zat to the face or a stunner to the back, the other one’s not going to flip out. They can also talk about work with each other, which is something neither of them would be able to do with a lot of other relationships. Also, neither of them is going to complain about long hours away from home.
3. Because in what limited interaction we see, they get along really, really well.
John even seems to like Cam more than he likes Rodney, because, well, lemon. They’re able to laugh and joke around with each other. When Cam compliments John on his City, knowing how proud John is of Atlantis, John is comfortable enough with him to give a flippant remark that still lets that pride show through.
4. They can let go with each other.
Let’s face it: both of these guys are under a lot of stress. Saving the galaxy? Tough work. Saving more than one galaxy? It gets a little exhausting. Preventing the universe from being blown to smithereens by various baddies on a disturbingly regular basis, preventing other baddies from corrupting the timeline, trying to keep other universes from being blown to similar smithereens by similar baddies? Yeah, it’s enough to make anybody crack. They can relax, to a certain extent, with their teams and maybe with other friends on base, but policy prevents them from going out of ‘those who know’ with problems they might have, and sometimes you just need to share your experience with someone who wasn’t there. They can be that for each other - a sounding board, if you will, someone who knows how to listen and hear not just what the other person is saying, but what they might not be saying, too. A relationship like theirs would be a safe haven of sorts, a place to share what happened and their thoughts without being judged and without interruptions from someone else’s point of view.
5. They complement each other.
John’s family history is sort of sad and lonely; Cam has a family that clearly adores him, even if they don’t quite understand him all the time. John made every screwup known to the Air Force to get to where he is in Atlantis; Cam did everything by the book to get to the head of SG-1. John’s a bit of a loner in some aspects, not good at communicating; Cam’s an open book, sharing information about himself and his family and his past without someone prying it out of him.
On the other hand they’ve both made mistakes, both as leaders and when they were following orders. They’ve both been hurt, they’ve both been broken. They both know the burden of command. They’ve both fought a war that they were pretty sure, at times, that they couldn’t win. The parts of them that aren’t alike go for the ‘opposites attract’ theory, but the parts of them that are similar are enough to bind them together.
6. They both know Sam is awesome.
That’s… really all I have to say on that. Because she is, and they both have firsthand experience.
7. They have a tragic sort of relationship that still has the hope of a happy ending.
Yeah, this might not be on everyone’s ‘shipper list, but it’s totally on mine. They serve in different galaxies, for the love of sweet mercy, and if that doesn’t qualify you for some epic pining I don’t know what does. There’s always the risk that one of them will get killed or kidnapped offworld, or that they’ll just disappear with no explanation, and the prospect of angst… I might enjoy whump a little bit. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, because angst without hope is just depressing and tragic, so there’s always ‘after we retire’ or the possibility of Cam transferring to Atlantis or those too-brief weeks when John has leave and can get back to Earth. It’s full of whump and sad and sometimes pining, but in the end… they can still have their happily ever after.
8. Well, you can’t deny that they’re pretty.
Hey, I said it went deeper than that. I didn’t say it wasn’t part of it at all.
Okay, it would be too easy for me to say “I ship John Sheppard/Cam Mitchell because they’re pretty’ (for proof, see: every picture of either one of them, ever) and be done with it. My thinking does, actually, go a little deeper than that, so here goes.
1. They both love to fly.
John joined the Air Force against his father’s wishes because he wanted to be in the air. Cam, on the other hand, followed his father into the service. They might have had very different paths to the sky, but once there, they both felt the same love for it, for flying in general.
2. They understand each other’s jobs.
They’ll both do anything to keep their teams safe, even at the cost of their own personal safety. They understand this about each other, so when one of them inevitably gets a zat to the face or a stunner to the back, the other one’s not going to flip out. They can also talk about work with each other, which is something neither of them would be able to do with a lot of other relationships. Also, neither of them is going to complain about long hours away from home.
3. Because in what limited interaction we see, they get along really, really well.
John even seems to like Cam more than he likes Rodney, because, well, lemon. They’re able to laugh and joke around with each other. When Cam compliments John on his City, knowing how proud John is of Atlantis, John is comfortable enough with him to give a flippant remark that still lets that pride show through.
4. They can let go with each other.
Let’s face it: both of these guys are under a lot of stress. Saving the galaxy? Tough work. Saving more than one galaxy? It gets a little exhausting. Preventing the universe from being blown to smithereens by various baddies on a disturbingly regular basis, preventing other baddies from corrupting the timeline, trying to keep other universes from being blown to similar smithereens by similar baddies? Yeah, it’s enough to make anybody crack. They can relax, to a certain extent, with their teams and maybe with other friends on base, but policy prevents them from going out of ‘those who know’ with problems they might have, and sometimes you just need to share your experience with someone who wasn’t there. They can be that for each other - a sounding board, if you will, someone who knows how to listen and hear not just what the other person is saying, but what they might not be saying, too. A relationship like theirs would be a safe haven of sorts, a place to share what happened and their thoughts without being judged and without interruptions from someone else’s point of view.
5. They complement each other.
John’s family history is sort of sad and lonely; Cam has a family that clearly adores him, even if they don’t quite understand him all the time. John made every screwup known to the Air Force to get to where he is in Atlantis; Cam did everything by the book to get to the head of SG-1. John’s a bit of a loner in some aspects, not good at communicating; Cam’s an open book, sharing information about himself and his family and his past without someone prying it out of him.
On the other hand they’ve both made mistakes, both as leaders and when they were following orders. They’ve both been hurt, they’ve both been broken. They both know the burden of command. They’ve both fought a war that they were pretty sure, at times, that they couldn’t win. The parts of them that aren’t alike go for the ‘opposites attract’ theory, but the parts of them that are similar are enough to bind them together.
6. They both know Sam is awesome.
That’s… really all I have to say on that. Because she is, and they both have firsthand experience.
7. They have a tragic sort of relationship that still has the hope of a happy ending.
Yeah, this might not be on everyone’s ‘shipper list, but it’s totally on mine. They serve in different galaxies, for the love of sweet mercy, and if that doesn’t qualify you for some epic pining I don’t know what does. There’s always the risk that one of them will get killed or kidnapped offworld, or that they’ll just disappear with no explanation, and the prospect of angst… I might enjoy whump a little bit. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, because angst without hope is just depressing and tragic, so there’s always ‘after we retire’ or the possibility of Cam transferring to Atlantis or those too-brief weeks when John has leave and can get back to Earth. It’s full of whump and sad and sometimes pining, but in the end… they can still have their happily ever after.
8. Well, you can’t deny that they’re pretty.
Hey, I said it went deeper than that. I didn’t say it wasn’t part of it at all.