Fic Rec, Sam/Baal, and dark!fic in the SG1 Fandom
I've got a fic rec for you and it may seem like an odd one coming from me being a rather firm Sam/Jack OTPer. But I am a big fan of this author's S/J fics so I felt certain that it would worth reading and it was.
Gleaming Animals by missparker
Pairings: Sam/Baal, Sam/Jack
Warning: Dubious Consent
Sam wasn’t sure how she kept managing to get herself into these situations, but here she was all the same.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/184080
If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that Sam/Baal is my super secret pairing. But I've never quite found the fic that really hit the right beats for me in regards to what I would expect from a Sam/Baal fic. I've read a few hoping for something dark, angsty, and fucked up (because it would have to be, right?), but almost all of the others I've come across as rather fluffy. I can't fathom how Sam/Baal would be anything other screwed up. There's so much messed up stuff between them. Not the least of which is his torture of Jack. Even if you take out the shipping, Sam is still Jack's friend and teammate. Surely there would be some sort of grudge, not withstanding all the evil System Lord stuff Baal has done in the past. I can't think of how Sam would willingly and fluffily fall into Baal's arms with out a lot of angsting.
In pondering the idea of Sam/Baal fluffiness, I've come to realize that the Stargate SG1 fandom, particularly the Sam/Jack side of it which I mostly participate in, is a very fluffy fandom. There's comparatively little angst and very little dark!fic. Though I have to say what there is of it is very good. But I find the lack of dark!fic very odd, The series always had a bent for humor which I loved, but I also loved some of the darker aspects that they would occasionally touch on, but never for very long and never fully explored the lasting effects of missions gone wrong. It's one of the reasons I really loved Doc's fics, she really went and explored those dark areas that the series merely suggested. annerbhp and surreallis are also amazing at darker, angstier fics.
Thinking about all this, I recently poked around in areas of fandom I rarely venture to, being the slash side of the SG1 fandom. I thought even if there's not a lot of Sam/Baal fic, there must be all sorts of dark, angsty Jack/Baal fic. I mean surely Abyss must have inspired tons of fic about that. Apparently not. Or I don't know where to look. Or even Sam/Baal/Jack, surely there's something like that out there. It is the internet, right? My google fu is sorely lacking it seems.
I don't quite know where all this is coming from other than that I've possibly overdosed on happy, trashy romance novels lately and need to read something on the other end of the spectrum. At the end of the day, as much as I love fluff, humor, and happily ever after for Sam and Jack, sometimes I like to see them put through the ringer and see how they come out on the end.