TEAM PEACE: Piece of the Action, "Zugzwang"

[fluffyllama]

Title: Zugzwang
Author: earlwyn ( interview)
Team: Peace
Prompt: Piece of the Action
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard (brief mention of past McKay/Keller)
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: None.
Summary: Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. Rodney finds that relationships

Comments

[anonymous]

the link is broken

[fluffyllama]

Because we need to add a link back to poll from the fic after the post is made, it sometimes comes up unavailable if you're too fast off the mark :)

[kassrachel]

Oh, oh, oh, wow. This is utterly gorgeous. There's so much to love here: Rodney no longer feeling at-home on Earth, his emails with John, the way things subtly shift between them. And yet how hard it is when they're first together again: everything unspoken, complicated. John telling Rodney what he and Ronon and Teyla and Woolsey and Radek have been doing, and Rodney's anger, and then Rodney's understanding. John admitting part of why he wanted the second MS, and Rodney calling him on his bullshit, and then oh, man, wow, that sex scene, and the banter, and the laughter -- I just adore it.

[earlwyn]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Excellent fic, but I'm confused...

[anonymous]

I thought this was beautifully written, but I think I must be as dumb as John and Rodney here -I really didn't get why they excluded Rodney from what they were planning. It seems like telling him could only have helped, both with the plans to get back to Pegasus and with Rodneys own peace of mind while they were stuck on Earth. The long term deception seems both illogical and a bit cruel - I was very suprised that Rodney just accepted it and forgave everybody immediately, as there didn't seem to be any logical reason behind it. If it was to protect him in some way I could maybe see their point

[almostnever]

I thought there were hints throughout the story giving possible reasons why John chose not to include Rodney in his effort

[anonymous]

Your explanations as to the fic did make sense, and I can see their reasoning for keeping Rodney in the dark. I think my initial opinion about the slightly illogical unfairness of the whole affair (and Rodney's reaction when he finds out) still stands, but if characters in fiction were always logical and fair (and if everybody reading a piece had the same opinions on it) it would be a very boring thing indeed

[almostnever]

Ah, I see.

Part of the reason I remarked on anonymity is that earlier in the Match competition, people who almost certainly did have LJs made anonymous comments in order to make critical remarks.

You don't need a username or an account to sign a name to a comment; you can put a nickname at the end of the comment, or you can just end your comment saying that you don't have a Livejournal. Either of those things would make it clearer that you're not someone with an LJ disowning a negative comment.

I hope you do feel welcome to comment again. I don't want to discourage anyone from commenting by any means. I'm sure the author of this piece appreciated your feedback.

[hestia_lacey]

This was such a fantastic read, and I swear, if I could vote I'd have to vote this off the scale of awesomeness.

Stylistically, I love what you don't say about what the characters do and say and think as much as I love what you do say. You evoked their mannerisms so vividly and so accurate (to my view of them at least) that the whole thing was effortless to picture and believe.

The awkwardness between them, the things John and Rodney fail to see in each other, the things they do manage to see - it was so very, very real. You have all the edges of what emotions are here and every one of them pressed into me exactly right. Very, very well done!

[earlwyn]

Thank you! I tried to be very specific about what Rodney noticed and didn't notice, and what he noticed that he communicated, so I'm glad it worked for you.

[danceswithgary]

I felt a fizzy itch all the way through, probably something close to what Rodney was feeling. The relief at the end where they finally began to make it work was also likely close to Rodney's. That's a good thing. :-D

[earlwyn]

I'm glad your fuzzy itch got relieved along with Rodney's!