14 Valentines 3: Logopetria (McKay/Sheppard pre-slash, G)

[lavvyan]

Title: Logopetria
Rating: G
Word Count: ~1,800
Warnings: Not a happy story.
Summary: John watched in horrified fascination as Rodney literally choked on his words, strangely-shaped objects spilling from his mouth in utter silence except for his coughing and ragged breath.
Notes: Beta-read by houseinrlyeh, broet-chan and zellieh. John/Rodney pre-slash. Also, Jeff Topham came

Comments

Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[taste_is_sweet]

That night, his name sitting on his desk, John knelt next to his bed and pulled out the cardboard box. He sorted through the words--Rodney's words--one by one: pulling them out, gently wiping off the dust with a hand cloth from his bathroom, before lining them up on his bed like toys.

There were surprisingly few of them, overall, compared to all the words John remembered Rodney speaking. In the end there were barely more than two hundred, in a careful phalanx on his bed, and John wondered how many words Rodney had held back. How many words were still in his head, unspoken, waiting like ghosts.

John clutched the little hammer, licked his lips, and struck the first shape. It was the wet, green thing that had splatted on the infirmary floor, now dried to a shell the color of seaweed too long in the sun. John was afraid it would fall apart if he tapped it, but when the hammer touched it, he heard a whispered no.

He put that one on his desk.

The spiky, charred metal was a good choice--it hissed gone when John hit it. It joined the

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[lavvyan]

You can take the liberty whenever you want, you know that. *hugs*

This is so beautiful. I love the idea of John sending a message to Rodney using his own words, telling him not to give up (if I got that right?). And oh, the shape of Rodney's home just about killed me. I'm this close to begging you to write a sequel where Rodney does come home. *holds thumb and indes finger maybe a milimetre apart*

Thank you for this!

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[taste_is_sweet]

Thank you.:D Your story was just so amazing, and the way you wrote about John wishing Rodney would speak so he could just listen, and sharing silences he wasn't even sure Rodney noticed, made me think that this would be the way John would tell Rodney how he felt.

And, yeah, ::sighs:: I've got a continuation of this that was keeping me awake last night. Chances are I'm going to write it, now that I've got your permission. :)

Thank you again for sharing this, and letting me share back.

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[lavvyan]

Oh, you've got permission. In fact, I'm not above begging if necessary. ;)

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[broet_chan]

I'd like to read it, too. :D

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[mcalex22]

Since Lavvyan pointed to this "sequel" I had to read it as I just adored the original story.

OMG, if you ever thought of a way for Rodney to come home, I'd read it too!

This is poignant and so beautiful. I just read Dearest (lavvyan's other story) and I'm feeling very nostalgic and sad! But what a gorgeous ficlet! :D

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[taste_is_sweet]

Thank you! (Though I feel weird responding in Lavvyan's journal....)

I'm really, really glad that "Dearest" is going to have a sequel! I hope it means Rodney won't really be dead. :D

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[truecat]

Very nice little follow on, I want to know what all the word were that John sent him.

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[taste_is_sweet]

Thank you. :) I'm figuring it out.

Re: Please forgive me for taking the liberty.

[xandutch]

Beautiful. Looking forward to the sequel's sequel! *g*