Middle
Tell POV ficlet! Cuz the fanfic100 prompts stirred the plot bunnies into a frenzy.
When they documented the expedition years down the track, when they converted it into a feature film as Elise was sure they would, they wouldn't talk about these parts.
There would be action, for sure. The film-makers would go all out on Atlantis's second baptism of fire with CG explosions and space battles and the pounding of gun fire. There would be drama and tension as the stranded expedition members - the heroes of the story - fought for their lives. The Wraith would reawaken, a truly terrible villian, and the audience would quail at the very real threat they had once posed.
The movie would be wrapped up with a spectacular conclusion, an epic battle in which (hopefully) the Wraith were finally defeated and the people of the Pegasus Galaxy were at last set free.
It was the times in between that would miss out.
Because after it was all done, nobody was going to talk about all the nights of trying to pick out the Sun from a sky of unfamiliar stars. There would be little mention of those long stretches of wondering if you would ever see Earth again, and no one would understand the gaping black hole that was left every time somebody didn't make it back to the city.
And nobody would mention these days, the ones that passed as weekends on Atlantis, though there was no driving home to see the family or away for two full days of lazing around.
You wouldn't hear anybody discussing Lieutenant Donovan's impromptu rounds of cricket and his increasingly cunning ways of conning people into participating. Nor would any movie feature that memorable girls' poker night which Tim and Adam had made the mistake of crashing, only to have Elise win Tim's boxers from him; or the scientists' makeshift bowling alley in the hall rendered useless from flooding, or Zelenka's secret stills which everybody knew about. No talk of movie nights and the complicated politics involved in the seating arrangements, or conspiracies about cutting off Kavanagh's pony tail, or Elise's dismay at everybody else's cooking attempts, or Kaylee's controversial adoption of a member of the local wildlife.
Tell knew that in the long run the great big battles probably meant more, but she still thought it was a shame. Because for her, it was the times in the middle that were most important of all.
When they documented the expedition years down the track, when they converted it into a feature film as Elise was sure they would, they wouldn't talk about these parts.
There would be action, for sure. The film-makers would go all out on Atlantis's second baptism of fire with CG explosions and space battles and the pounding of gun fire. There would be drama and tension as the stranded expedition members - the heroes of the story - fought for their lives. The Wraith would reawaken, a truly terrible villian, and the audience would quail at the very real threat they had once posed.
The movie would be wrapped up with a spectacular conclusion, an epic battle in which (hopefully) the Wraith were finally defeated and the people of the Pegasus Galaxy were at last set free.
It was the times in between that would miss out.
Because after it was all done, nobody was going to talk about all the nights of trying to pick out the Sun from a sky of unfamiliar stars. There would be little mention of those long stretches of wondering if you would ever see Earth again, and no one would understand the gaping black hole that was left every time somebody didn't make it back to the city.
And nobody would mention these days, the ones that passed as weekends on Atlantis, though there was no driving home to see the family or away for two full days of lazing around.
You wouldn't hear anybody discussing Lieutenant Donovan's impromptu rounds of cricket and his increasingly cunning ways of conning people into participating. Nor would any movie feature that memorable girls' poker night which Tim and Adam had made the mistake of crashing, only to have Elise win Tim's boxers from him; or the scientists' makeshift bowling alley in the hall rendered useless from flooding, or Zelenka's secret stills which everybody knew about. No talk of movie nights and the complicated politics involved in the seating arrangements, or conspiracies about cutting off Kavanagh's pony tail, or Elise's dismay at everybody else's cooking attempts, or Kaylee's controversial adoption of a member of the local wildlife.
Tell knew that in the long run the great big battles probably meant more, but she still thought it was a shame. Because for her, it was the times in the middle that were most important of all.