Ficlet: Dancers (TSCC, John and Cameron, G)

[orange_crushed]

Dancers. G, vague spoilers for the Terminator series but nothing specific. This must be my way of saying I'm home. Vacation was amazing ! But I spent the last two days watching nothing but TSCC and so here are John and Cameron. In the future. Somewhere. This is me, rambling.

Harper sometimes thinks that people send the best tapes down here,

Comments

[the_grynne]

Oh, sweetie. This hurts and delights in so many ways I don't even know where to start, it's layers and layers of emotion leave me short of breath. I love Harper, who is well-adjusted and understanding and nice about Cameron despite being born after JD; the image of dirty-faced fighters and children sitting in the dark watching the haunting images from a world passed; the quiet, soft intimacy of John and Cameron's uninterrupted moment together.

TWENTY SEVEN YEARS. Oh John. He must be so, so tired. What would Cameron do, without him?

[orange_crushed]

TWENTY SEVEN YEARS.

I KNOW. I hated myself for that for a moment, but then, ah, I did it anyway. Oh John, indeed. I just kept thinking about that future John, the way that Jesse and Derek talk about him and the machines, "imagine a John who's been around her for a decade." But watching the show, especially the first season, I feel like John's humanity is only emphasized by Cameron- he makes her more human, she doesn't make him less so. He calls her on her unfeeling cyborg business and tells her what people are really like. John is so very human.

Thinking about Cameron after John actually dies makes me think about Mexico, "I can't let anything happen to him." And then I want to cry and cry and cry.

[atlanticise]

Sorry for being all muddled up, but what twenty-seven years? And John dies?! :O Huh?

[ant3ka]

Totally pitch-perfect. I can see this so clearly. Lovely. :)

[orange_crushed]

Thank you so much ! It's difficult to frame it from another character's viewpoint, so I am happy you thought this came through. :)

[mylittlepwny]

THEY ARE DANCING TO MY FAIR LADY.

They are dancing and it has been SO LONG FOR THEM, OMG, 27 YEARS WHAT, and you absolutely positively break my heart with this:

And Connor had spared a second for him, John Connor with a gun in his hand, a radio squalling on his hip, blood congealing on the line of his scalp, seven men behind him with their eyes down and their weapons still hot to the touch; Connor pausing in the tunnel, still bleeding, asking if Harper needed anything, dropping his old man's tags into his hand and patting his shoulder.

You are the blower to my leaf.

[orange_crushed]

THEY ARE DANCING TO MY FAIR LADY.

Very yes.

ILU. Um, and yeah, I'm glad that's the heartbreak, because that's my John Connor. The very human leader of humanity. His mother's son. Oh I love them so much I am a little sick from it.

[the_spin]

Oh, I love this so much!!! I love stories about the in-between moments in war, the quiet, uncertain lulls, with people living their lives around the bad situations. And I love what you did with the dancing, John aging and slowing down while Cameron ticks away unchanged. It's so elegant. YOU ARE AMAZING.

[orange_crushed]

I love stories about the in-between moments in war...

Oh, me too. So very much. I think that's why the tv series appealed to me so strongly, because okay, yes, Skynet and danger and guns, and here still was John Connor going to high school and it was pizza day and Cameron had two slices. (I repeated the "I had two slices" line about five thousand times until Mr. Orange gave me A Look.) That comedy and romance and hope and everyday sadness and laundry amongst the drama and action is, to me, a more realistic formula. Because people do go about their lives, even in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Perhaps a touch tl;dr. But I feel strongly about that. I like the slice-of-life touches. I am so happy that this worked for you. :D (Also, the thought of John aging and Cameron ticking away has made me cry like twice today, I AM A BIG BABY.)

[takethewords]

This is so heartbreaking and evocative, I love it bb!

[orange_crushed]

Thank you so ! Oh, it's breaking my heart, for sure. I don't really want to imagine them apart, ever. D: