Next, by minnow1212, for 38 minutes/Amnesty Challenge

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Title: Next
Author: minnow1212

Thanks to cofax7 for the prompt: Sheppard and Teyla and sharp.


Sometime in the third year the fighting gets good. It’s weird, because it’s not an improvement in John’s footwork or his technique with the sticks, which have been pretty good for a while now. Maybe he’s winning a bit more often, but it’s not that either: he’s beaten her before, not always because fatigue on her part or a temporary mutation on his, and it hasn’t felt like this. But there’s still some shift in the way he moves, a difference he can’t pinpoint but he can feel down to his fingertips. Sparring has always been a pleasure: now it’s a fierce joy.

He figures it out in the middle of a sparring session, and it surprises him: it’s because these aren’t lessons anymore. They’re fighting. It surprises him, kind of a lot, the kind of surprise that would have made him falter or pause not too long ago. But his body knows now that you don’t do that, his feet and his fingertips know how to be a worthy opponent even if his brain is just catching up, and he keeps moving, moving, moving.

Later, when they’re toweling off he says, "Hey! Shouldn’t there have been some sort of graduation ceremony or something?" and she probably should raise her eyebrows at that cryptic statement but she’s quick and she knows him well and so her mouth tilts up slyly and she says, "Shall I create a diploma for you to hang on your wall?"

"Yeah, maybe," he says. But when they next meet, she doesn’t hold a paper in her hands but knives.

She presents one of them to him gravely, but it’s not the kind of gravity that won’t bear joking, so he narrows his eyes and says, "You’re just upping the stakes because you like knocking me on my ass."

"I do," she agrees, still gravely. "Shall we begin?"

And his fingers are already curving around the knife and his feet settling into place as he says, "Yeah."

END

Comments

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I love that John had to feel the transition, that he didn't notice right away. And Teyla offering a diploma feels just right. :)

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I tend to be pretty oblivious when I'm learning something physical; progress happens in the background, so that's where that came from.

[rokeon.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[cofax7]

Oh, I like, a lot! Good stuff!

And Shep and Teyla sparring with knives? Wicked cool.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Mmm, sparring. We need more sparring scenes. And with knives would be *even better.*

Thank you, for both the prompt and the comment.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

you so beautifully articulate his shift, and his awareness of it. and hee! i love teyla's admission that she likes to knock him down. very fine and sweet. also, you give a glimpse into their potential future that i adore; the fact that they're still there. and are becoming something they didn't expect to become. *g*

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

>she likes to knock him down<

Heh. You know, I can't picture having to deal with John Sheppard and not wanting to knock him on his ass every once in a while. Or ruffle his hair *eg*

[kimberlite.livejournal.com]

How lovely. Cool that Sheppard's body knows before his mind. And the knives -- nice.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I tend to learn that way when I'm learning something physically, so that carried over into the fic.

[paian]

Very cool. I love the second paragraph. And the sly tilt to Teyla's mouth, and the way John's fingers curve around the graduation present. Neat.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

>And the sly tilt to Teyla's mouth<

I think she grins at them a lot, frankly, but plays it straight because they all find it a more amusing dynamic. One of the lines that didn't quite make it into the fic was about that: "John is McKay's straight man, but Teyla is his."

[clarkangel.livejournal.com]

This is very cool and, I feel, right on the money for how it would be for John. Great job.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[the-moonmoth.livejournal.com]

Hee! *love* was that Teyla having a little dig at McKay? Hmm?

I love John's reactions in this. Nice job with that prompt.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

>was that Teyla having a little dig at McKay? Hmm?<

Ding! I did have McKay's wall o' diplomas in mind, and I imagine Teyla did as well. *g*

Thanks!

[neocatholic3000.livejournal.com]

Nice! And also fits right in w/ the Teacher Challenge!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Heh. I wasn't thinking of that challenge at all, but you're right.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Well, that's just awesome.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat! Love the slow realisation and the dynamic between them.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I really like their dynamic on the show, in a way that's crept up on me.

[logovo.livejournal.com]

This? This was a surprise and *perfect*
Wow.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.

[permetaform]

ooooh! I like! Thank you!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Your icon is cracking me up.

[ltlj.livejournal.com]

That was excellent!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like it!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[fatuorum.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is lovely. Knife fighting? Wow.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

I love that scene with Teyla and Sora in The Eye. So. *g*

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

See? See?? This is why I love Sheppard and Teyla together so much. This nonverbal understanding, this gentle teasing. Perfect! I love this moment between them.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks!

[shetiger.livejournal.com]

Oh! Yes! Thank you!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank *you.*

Also, you win at appropriate iconage.

[lyr]

You have lovely detail and character work here. What I like best, though, is the way you depict the shift in their sparring and how John realizes the meaning behind it after the fact; this is exactly what that transition from lessons to fighting in earnest felt like to me when I was training in martial arts.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I haven't done martial arts, so I was translating the experience from other physical activity. I'm glad it rang true.

[dvslj.livejournal.com]

I loved this. Not enough good Teyla/Sheppard interaction about. And moving onto the knives? Cool ;-)

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

Knives are just cool. I want to see more knife fights like the Teyla/Sora one on the show.

[kellifer-fic.livejournal.com]

Wow... this is simple but very effective. Nice!

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[2naonh3-cl2.livejournal.com]

the offering of a diploma made me think oddly of rodney looking at them like they're crazy, "what, you need a piece of paper to tell you that you regularly get your ass kicked by a girl?!" thank you for sharing. *g*

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Hee! And Ronon would probably be all, "So. You've finally gotten as good as a Satedan child. You're proud of that?"

Thank you.

[eternalenigma.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Great Sheppard/Teyla interaction.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much.

[lunulet.livejournal.com]

Thank you for increasing the amount of Teyla/Sheppard friendship fic in the world.

(And what a fantastically hot visual.. :))

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I do enjoy it when they spar on the show. Mmm, pretty.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/]

I really like this, it's great and yay for new lessons ;-).

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

Thanks ver much :)