Comforts of Home, by the Azure Cascade (Return challenge)

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Title: The Comforts of Home

Author: The Azure Cascade

Spoilers: "Return" the first.

Rating: PG-13 for cussing. :)

Summary: For the Return challenge. Ronon's take on the city.

The Comforts of Home

Ronon liked the city of the Ancestors.

It was big, for a start. On bad mornings, when his legs started to itch and the walls felt a little too tight and too familiar, he could pull on his shoes and run, a long looping circuit from the South Pier to the Northwest Concourse and never run out of road. He lost hours that way, threading new paths through the smooth metal wilderness, the smell of steel and salt in every deep breath.

He couldn't fault the indoor plumbing, either. Shitting behind trees, bathing in river water and eating with dirt-stained hands, well, it wasn't the worst part of running, but he'd missed hot showers. The ones they had in Atlantis were strange - water shooting from all sides, instead of down from the ceiling like back on Sateda - but they were high-pressure and never had leeches or biting fish in them. He couldn't quite bring himself to pick his hair out, but Sheppard found him special soap for it about a week in and he'd felt clean for the first time in seven years. And he hadn't gotten sick once while living in Atlantis, among people who understood hygiene and germs and had places to wash their hands before dinner.

Cold food, too. There was nothing on Sateda like the ice cream the Lanteans liked so much, but there were nurtle berries, thick fleshy fruit that bit the tongue when properly chilled, and frozen juice for hot summer nights. Sometimes at night he went into the mess and just stood in front of the fridges, listening to the quiet hum and staring through the clear doors at the meat and fruit and drinks and the thin layer of frost on the inside walls.

And the skyline. Ronon had always been a city boy, raised in an eighteenth story apartment with steel and glass on every side, and he could never quite get used to the wide open sky. Even before the Wraith, it had never quite felt safe to him. When he was running, he stuck to forests, close between the trees, where he was hidden and there was always something there to break the hard line of the horizon. Atlantis, with its endless lights and towering spires, was a sanctuary. It didn't look like Sateda, of course, but then he probably couldn't have lived there if it had.

But what Ronon liked the most about living in Atlantis was Sheppard, with his stupid grin and his endless jokes and his absolute refusal to ever leave a man behind. And Weir, with her bright laugh and the surprising strength in her smile, who would die for any one of her people with a warrior's pride. And McKay, who never shut up, full of the energy and wonder of the most unruly child and the duty and loyalty of the hardest soldier. And even Carson, who was far braver than he believed himself to be, who had saved him from seven years of running wild, and from losing everything that mattered to his desire for revenge.

What Ronon liked the most about Atlantis was his family. And while sometimes he missed working toilets, and cold food, and sprawling towers, it was his family he dreamed of every night after the Ancestors drove them out.

Comments

[reginabellatrix.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice. Possibly I'm just sheltered, but I think this is the first Ronon POV Return story I've read. The way he goes through all of the things he likes about Atlantis, comparing and contrasting with Sateda, and showing how it had really become a home for him makes the end, when you realise that he's been cast out again, so poignant.

Thanks for sharing.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any either, at least not specifically. Ronon just doesn't get enough love in fandom. I try to rectify that when I can. :)

Thanks for your feedback and kind words!

[maverick4oz.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is just a beautiful portrait of Ronon. Vivid and bittersweet. I'm so, so glad he got his family back. Thank you for this.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

[ratcreature]

Cool view of Ronon and how he compares Atlantis to Sateda.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thanks! We don't get much of Ronon's perspective of the city itself on the show, but I have to think that, coming from a place like Sateda, he'd have an interesting take on it all.

[leesa_perrie]

Lovely, lovely story. So poignant and well written. Poor Ronon.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And I know! The guy needs a hug so badly!

Also, your icon is awesome. :)

[leesa_perrie]

Ronon needs a hug...is that why he tends to give hugs out?

Glad you like the 'McKay in the bush' icon! That's one of my favourite McKay photos - he looks good all dirtied up and in the wild, doesn't he?!!

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

He gives hugs out because he is a giant adorable hunk of Ronon. I do think he needs to meet someone big enough to pick him up and spin him, though. Just because I'd really want to see the look on his face.

I think I like that pic for his expression. I see it as very Tasmanian Devil, for some reason, which is both totally incongruous and perfectly fitting to McKay.

[leesa_perrie]

LOL!! Oh yeah, to see someone pick up Ronon and twirl him?! LOL!!

And McKay as Taz? Oh, someone has GOT to do a photo-manip of that!!!

[ceitie.livejournal.com]

I like this Ronon POV, especially his thoughts on showers and places to watch your hands before eating, because after seven years, having hot showers again would be the best thing ever.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it just?

I'm glad you liked. Thanks for the comment!

[fullygoldy.livejournal.com]

REally beautiful. Thank you.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

^_^ I'm glad you liked it.

[gaffsie.livejournal.com]

Awww... :)

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

:)

[maisierita.livejournal.com]

This was quiet lovely, and unique.

I really liked your take on Sateda, and how Atlantis feels like home to him. I particularly liked the line that it looked nothing like Sateda, but he couldn't have lived there if it had. That was brilliant.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Ever since we saw Sateda, I've had that kicking around in my head. I'm glad it worked for you :)

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

It didn't look like Sateda, of course, but then he probably couldn't have lived there if it had.

Good line. :) This was a really nice story.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

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

[shallanelprin.livejournal.com]

Great story. I keep forgetting that Ronon was probably a city boy :)

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his years as on the run really have changed him, huh? Thanks!

[rustler.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat. I love these kinds of oblique-angle view stories, and you chose to focus on some great, small points of difference in Ronon's life.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad it worked for you.

[saphanibaal.livejournal.com]

I like this a lot.

//among people who understood hygiene and germs and had places to wash their hands before dinner.//

Oh, my, YES. You can put up with a lot of other dirt and dried sweat if you can only clean your hands before you eat.

And I really like Ronon-the-apartment-kid.

And the last two sentences bite really, really hard.

[bluefall.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

And I really like Ronon-the-apartment-kid.

I have this whole backstory for Ronon in my head that's based a great deal on a friend of mine from Chicago, who is actively weirded out by suburbia ("The houses are so BIG! The parks are so SMALL!"). That's really what fascinates me the most about Ronon - they pretty much paint him as a noble savage on the show, but based on what we've seen of Sateda, he probably has far more in common with the Earthers than he does with most of the rest of Pegasus.