Eat Your Heart Out, Peggy Fleming by Domenika Marzione [f**king freezing challenge]

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Eat Your Heart Out, Peggy Fleming
genfic; 28000 words
summary: The Ice Capades come to Pegasus and John gets a front-row seat.

John really didn't have a lot to do as he waited for the marines to rappel down, clean out the hole, measure the depth and the distance to where they thought the roof was, and set the next charge. He'd come out today only because Rodney was starting to get a complex as this would have been the fifth mission and John hadn't yet visited. Nevermind that there had been and would be dozens of projects Rodney ran off-world that John had never graced with his presence; that he had been there for the conception and had no interest in how it turned out deeply offended Rodney to the point that it was starting to affect their team missions.

("It's a mining facility, McKay, not a baby." "You are totally missing the point." "Apparently.")

With grateful thanks to: siegeofangels, witchofthedogs, and vonknibble. Anything that's wrong is entirely my fault.

Comments

Great!

[linziday.livejournal.com]

Loved this!! A full story, great plot, wonderful pace. Excellent!

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. I often get distracted by details, but sometimes it works out for the best.

Re: Great!

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

Nicely put together.

John really thought his logic was less suspect than the Ancients' threat assessment skills...
Bwah! George Clinton's logic is less suspect than the Ancients' threat assessment skills. These are people who outfitted their giant spaceship with stained glass exterior windows fragile enough for someone to throw a chair through. And kept that life-sucking black cloud thingie in storage in their own basement rather than dumping it in a vault on some uninhabitable planet.

[thoran-ziyal.livejournal.com]

This was a really well written story with a 'real' feeling to it and full of lovely details - it would have fit perfectly into Season 2. So I give it a big *yay* and thank you for posting it!

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the self-destruct that doesn't run on an independent power source.

Thanks. :)

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. :)

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

I suspect the blame for that one is all on the SGC people. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a self-destruct before Zelenka set one up back at the end of Season 1. And it's almost certainly McKay that rigged it up so it could be activated by the operating system without requiring activation by 2 or more of the command staff—real smart move on the part of someone who's been burned by Wraith computer viruses on more than one occasion.

[zoniduck.livejournal.com]

I really love reading your fics. I used to be a Tom Clancy junkie back in the day, and (though I know a lot of folks consider him a terrible hack) I think your fic reads like SGA crossed with the best of his stuff. I want all of your original characters to be real characters on the show, and for them to have exciting and dangerous adventures like you write for them. Thank you for sharing your stories with all of us!

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

I used to eagerly consume the early Clancys in my high school years, so I'll take that compliment in the spirit with which it was intended. :)

Thanks.

[argosy.livejournal.com]

That was exciting and engrossing and wonderful. I really admire how you make it all seem so real.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[briar_pipe]

*looks out the window* Yup, this was very timely. I think I'll go make cocoa now.

...But seriously, I like everything of yours I've ever read, but this one jumped out at me, from Ronon not believing in the cold (until he felt it) to the suddenness and realism of the action. I love that John wasn't really planning to be there at all, that Elizabeth had just let them off the leash from the Ford incident, and that you know how snow and ice actually behave (as opposed to how they behave on-screen, which is weird and all kinds of wrong). I love that Cadman got to blow shit up and save lives by doing it. I love that Ansbacher was 24 and trying not to freak out, that Rodney had to drink hot gatorade, and that Teyla was dressed like a jawa. I love that what happened was nobody's fault and nobody sat around doling out blame.

I love that you make me care intensely about all the characters in a way that's hard for me to do with the actual show because of the hierarchy of character importance (i.e., extras = canon fodder) and the fact that it's all so unreal. Which your stories never, ever are. Thank you.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That is... pretty much everything I hoped to achieve in this story.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

My glee is hard to textually render, but this had everything. Action! Adventure! Injuries! Derring-do! I love using that word. Very wonderful. Thank you very, very much.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

*bows with a flourish* Very happy to oblige. :)

And thank you for the rec.

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

I love the sense of team you get here - John's quiet concern for Teyla and Rodney, Ronon's refusal to gear up until he sees just how cold it is, Cadman's role. I also like that when they get back to Atlantis, it's just another day on Atlantis and they all have had just a little too much practice at recovering from crises. It's a sad but true observation.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Atlantis is big enough and experienced enough that... yeah. This doesn't even register on the crisis meter.

John's team is devoted to each other -- old marrieds and not the flush of young love. They're past the stage where they even bother trying to prove it explicitly.

Many thanks.

[springwoof.livejournal.com]

As usual, this was a wonderful adventure that would have been great on the actual show. Way to let Cadman's talents shine!

Beyond the great adventure plot, I liked the Earth/Atlantis politics. The dance of resources withheld and provided, and discoveries exploited or horded: "I foresee grave difficulties in extracting it from the outpost. At least until they can come up with adequate compensation. Or a few drones." And I liked your igloo-dwelling natives and the respect the Team had for them and their rights to their own planet.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much.

Earth/Atlantis politics have always intrigued me a little -- Atlantis first as isolated outpost and then as far-flung frontier, frustrated by and reliant on an Earth-based command that does not truly understand how different things are in Pegasus.

[sholio]

I finally got a chance to read this, and it was fantastic! The interactions between John and the team and the marines are great, and I love how solid and detailed the world is; the plot makes sense, and everything is so well-drawn and believable that I think my toes might be frozen now. The blend of humor and slice-of-Pegasus-life and action/suspense works perfectly, and you've also got some wonderful turns of phrase (especially the hilarious descriptions of Rodney in his winter gear!). All in all, a really great read.

[deaka.livejournal.com]

Loved this to pieces, fantastic story. Loved the characterisation of the main team, and also that, as usual, you worked in so many of the secondary characters and made them feel real and competent.

Great work!

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. I try to take Pegasus life more seriously than the show does -- mostly because I get revolted when they stick in cheap humor while characters are standing next to corpses -- but not so seriously that they lose the inherent wackiness in what they're doing. I'm very glad that came through.

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

I completely live through the secondary characters. :)

Thanks.

[emeraldsword.livejournal.com]

ooh, this was great. It was fab to read something really long for a change too - though one of the nice things about fanfic can be that it's short, it was nice to get my teeth into something a little more novel-like for a change! This was really well thought out and I think it worked really well. Good job.