summary: still sick

[minxy]

Normally, I wait in the mornings to see whether I still have my low-grade fever, which is the hallmark signature of Minx Being Ill. Normally fevers don't spike immediately on waking because your body has had this whole nice *sleep* thing (nevermind you having to wake up several times to blow your nose) and it's kinda got things under control.

So I wait, to see if maybe I can go into work later today, right? Only no, because my head hurts and my spine hurts and I'm walking like I have a migraine and I'm tethered to my tissue box. I'm taking my meds and calling it. Staying home, day 2, exactly one day longer than I am prepared to be sick.

So, character meme (entertain me, LJ!), ganked from rydra_wong and a plethora of others:

1. Comment to this post with the name of a character that I have written in fic. (link takes you to the fanfic tag, which includes ficlets and such. Major fics are also listed in this post and in the sidebar.)
2. I will comment telling you the following:

a. What initially prompted me to like the character enough to write about him/her.
b. One of his/her best traits.
c. One of his/her worst traits.
d. How easy/difficult I find it to write the character.
e. The story/chapter/paragraph/phrase where I feel that I truly captured the character.
f. My plans (if any) to write the character in the near future.

Also, thanks to whoever nominated my stuff in the Stargate Fan Awards, none of my stories there have been nominated before, so that's all levels of awesome. Also, nominating person(s), you are showing your gen preferences, which makes me all kinds of happy since both fic in the works right now are gen (what can I say? Teal'c is quietly sitting in full lotus over in the corner of my brain telling me that now is not the time for such things.)

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Bra'tac!

'Cause he is Teh Awesome.

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

Oh my, yes he is. And I have no icon, woez.

a, What prompted me to *like* him? Bra'tac is just awesome like that. I can't remember what prompted me to start writing from his POV as a young man, except that it was a roundabout process: I was going to write about how he and Teal'c became so linked, but it originated from meeting my friend's nephew, now a newly minted teenager, and thinking of Teal'c. The story arose when I realized we knew how Bra'tac taught Teal'c to think for himself, but who taught Bra'tac?

Even then, I still thought the story was going to come around to Teal'c and stay with him for a while, but when I got there, Bra'tac and he just looked at each other and stood taller and had nothing more to say in that moment. They aren't ones to go on about what they feel, after all.

b. His best trait is maybe his romanticism, in an all encompassing way: he can go off to war and see the romance in it and come home and fall for an incredible woman despite the large 'Do Not Go There' sign that culture painted over her; he can lose faith in his leaders but not his people, he can raise a boy not his own and love him completely.

c. Worst trait is the downside of true romantics in their reckless willingness to die for the love of it; that they have this amazing faith in the rightness of the course. Die in battle, die to keep another alive, sacrifice for the good of something else, be a pawn in a great plan only he can see because now would be a good time for the fabled Tau'ri of Earth to rise up and destroy the Gods! Yes! Yes it would! RIGHTNOWKAYTHANKS.

Which just makes me all the happier that he met Jack O'Neill, who looks at him with his 'yeah, you're crazy' face and says "That's a bad plan, today is actually a rotten day to die, crazy person." But Jack is a survivor, luckily he's as fierce about it as Bra'tac is about the cause (whichever cause).

d. I found Bra'tac very easy to write. Unlike Teal'c, he is absolutely willing to tell you a story if you just ask the right questions, and he has a mind like a steel trap, so you will get amazing detail from him. If you ask the wrong questions I suppose you might come right up against his ferocity and cunning, but so far I've been content with talking to him about how he because a father, and he's a big softie when it comes to Teal'c.

e. From Footsoldiers on Uneven Ground: (http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/70881.html)

The words fell flat; they both knew that an outcast would find nothing of the sort, were he not there to insist on special treatment. But not for nothing was Bra'tac called the bravest of Apophis’ warriors; he risked the welcome for her. He sat beside her and risked her hollow mocking to offer it again.

He wondered if it was, in fact, foolishness that he continued to invite her into his life, when she so clearly would not come.

“I will send my son, if I may.” He glanced at Mehr'auc to find she was looking at him carefully. “He would also find welcome?”

“Yes.” He found himself inhaling deeply with pride that she had found a way to accept his regard, and his assistance, even if it must be by proxy. He would instruct his servants to expect a young warrior, as he would appear to be, with the black insignia already upon his brow. There would be no mention of his home in the outcast camp, or his lineage. Teal’c of Chulak would suffice.

f. Someday I would like to ask him about the ways he manipulated Gods and giants, but I suspect if I asked him about a battle or something I'd get a Beowulf type epic recitation. That's a bit beyond me at the moment.

[synecdochic]

Sam! I've always loved your Sam.

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

a. Sam was my 'in' into Stargate. It took me a long time to get past MacGyvver, but I did because there was a great, athletic, capable, woman, scientist on screen. She was more stereotypical in early seasons, bad with people, uber-feminist and unable to dress in appropriately sized clothes unless they were a uniform. When she stood up straight and got more secure in later seasons, though, I loved her.

During my initial viewing of the first probably 5-6 seasons of Stargate, I was on board with the Jack UST thing, but the longer it got drawn out without development or resolution, the less patience I had with it. I know how an analytical mind like hers works (like mine) and I have a lot of trouble with the idea that she could leave something so completely unfinished for such a long time. That she might not understand it? Oh definitely possible. That she would never figure it out? Not bloody likely.

So at some point I started differentiating in my head between traits that were consistent with a scientific brain and those that weren't and I came to this huge existential crisis of a story called One Half of the Equation. I let Sam try to deal with everything with science and I let her fail, and then I let Daniel, who is much more emotionally aware if not emotionally intelligent, come in and pick her up somewhat. That catharsis was enough to open the door to writing a lot more of Sam after that.

b.I love that she is so analytical, that she can break things down into fixable parts and get it done. She's committed, she's driven, she's focused. She's working hard at work worth doing and she's surrounded by really good people. I have so much respect for her.

c. This is actually not a fault, per se, but I think it's a major facet of her personality that emotions are difficult to understand. If she knows what to do with them, then she will (witness, Cassie), but if they confuse her, she will either put them away and deal with them later, or get incredibly awkward. I see Sam throwing herself into her work to avoid thinking about complicated emotional situations quite often, actually. Machines make *sense*, people do not, and she doesn't have a manual for people, can't see their workings most of the time.

d. I find it ridiculously easy to write Sam. It's just figuring out the story to tell that gets me. But her thought processes are very much like mine, so it fits with my analytical progression through ideas and stories and thoughts and sentences.

e.from One Half of the Equation: Still, the loyalty was touching. Sam wondered if what she felt was home, or just the support of people who knew she could blow up stars and didn’t want to mess with her.

or, the Principle of Exclusion: “Me and Rodney? There is no me and Rodney.” She was trying to follow the conversation. Honest she was.

or, The Sky Is Falling:
“Daniel has this theory,” she said, “that you know you’ve given up when you let yourself get drunk with the locals.”

“Really?” He asked, “Talk to him lately?” It was clearly the wrong thing to say, but the words were somersaulting out of his mouth before he heard them.

“Jack did,” she snapped, “Eudora. Daniel didn’t, in Caledonia.”

“I know Sam, I did my homework, once upon a time…”

“I didn’t, at the alpha site, on the Prometheus.”

“That’s other planets, Sam; this is Earth. Well, the Prometheus… you know what I mean.” He suddenly felt old and creaky, curling up on his side to soak up the warmth of the fire, though all he really felt was a few withdrawing licks of light and heat on his knees. “This is months and seasons and it’s time to appreciate that we’re in France, even if we just pulled a bunch of vines to plant wheat.” It was a weird rationalization on their part, to drink in honor of the vines that were sacrificed, but who was he to argue?

“Are you giving up on me?” Spelling it out because obviously he was in no condition for subtlety, but she sounded young when she said it.

f. Yes, one of the stories I'm working on is Sam and Teal'c friendship, post-finale. I'm really looking forward to the last conversation in that one.

[synecdochic]

eeeeee. yay, thank you. i truly do adore your Sam, man.

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

I'm really surprised sometimes that people aren't tired of me talking about her, actually. There have been at least two big ol' meta posts and such... wacky.

Thankee.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Considering how little positive discussion of Sam there is in Gateverse fandom, ain't no way we're getting tired of it. :)

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Curses, Syn beat me to Sam! Daniel, then; I'm always interested in how people see him.

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

Daniel, oh Lord, Daniel is a barrel of fishhooks.

a. My first attraction to Daniel was Movie!Daniel, who is passionate and logical and sees everyone and learns from a woman he could easily dismiss as irrelevant. I was... less interested in Daniel on a Quest, but I still loved how he approached problems and I love how surprised he was by Jack's different priorities every single time. Later seasons Daniel is so much more worn down and tired. I'd define him now by his tenacity, but sometimes I wonder if he needs to reevaluate the decisions he's made, because they do seem out-dated occasionally. I mean, seriously, Daniel, the celibacy is so last season!

b. I love how committed he is to ideas and people and wonderful things. He really does have his heart in the right place, but he can be a bear if you disagree with him: condescending and absolute.

c. I suppose it would be the dichotomy of the big picture vs. the individual. Sometimes Daniel can turn on the diplomacy skills and talk a crazy pissed off morphing alien *out* of destroying everything and everyone (manipulative sob), but other times he's really okay with huge loss of life in service of the greater mission. Including his own sometimes. It would be nice if he were a little more of a collaborator in those instances so that other people's opinions could be at least considered, but I'm not sure it really occurs to Daniel that he might not be right.

d. I used to write Daniel without thinking about it too much, but lately I find him very intimidating. It's easiest for me when he's dealing with Jack, because then they're at least talking a lot--it might not have anything to do with what they're actually saying, but there are sounds and words and things. Maybe it's because I've started writing from Cameron's POV and I think Cameron finds Daniel to be really, really, odd.

e. Like No One is Watching: It was Sam’s voice that Daniel heard, he was pretty sure. Of course, he was also reasonably sure that Sam should be… somewhere else, so there was a good chance as well that she was a hallucination.

Trumping all these musings, though, was the overwhelming confusion about why a culture that seemed to be Central African in origin would be so adept at Chinese water torture.

f. I'm writing him right now, provided I can commit to using his POV, but Teal'c keeps trying to tell me what he thinks, and it's so darned interesting. It's a friendship story, roughly in and about Avatar. Here's a snippet, actually (this will change, btw, I haven't even completed the crappy first draft of this):

“It’s ridiculous to even hint that you are replacable,” Daniel had said, his voice rising in to a pitch completely inappropriate for kel no’reem, one open hand gesturing sharply at a place on the wall behind Teal’c’s shoulder.

Teal’c turned his head to look fully at his companion as he said, “you have all gained a significant understanding of the Goa’uld, including fluency in several dialects. You have a breadth of understanding of the mythic history on your planet, and now you are now capable of discerning the truth in your ancient stories.”

“So have the Jaffa,” Daniel interrupted, only to stop after having said it, to apparently consider whether he had just argued against his own point.

“You have alliances among the ranks of the Jaffa, the Tok’ra, the Tau’ri populations, and even, however inadvisedly, the Goa’uld themselves,” Teal’c continued, “You have friends among the Asgard, and other free peoples. I shall add myself to their ranks if my usefulness here becomes obsolete, and count myself honored to do so.”

Daniel Jackson opened and closed his mouth several times before he said, finally, “I would miss you.”

Teal’c replied, “I have not yet taken my leave, Daniel Jackson.”

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

Aww, Daniel and Teal'c!

I'm not sure it really occurs to Daniel that he might not be right

Hee. Yes. I mean, it clearly does occasionally, per Meridian... though come to think of it, even there his issues seem to be more "I didn't make a difference," rather than "I screwed up."

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Congratulations. BUt sorry you're still ill. *Hugs*

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

Meh, worse today. *whiiiiiine*

Finally found time for a nap, though.

[jenlev.livejournal.com]

Nap good. Also....Farscape. ;)

[kres.livejournal.com]

Off topic: that thingy you made coffee in, the one that looks like a jar, and you press some sort of lever... what is it called?

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

A French Press. You mix coarsely ground coffee and hot water, let steep for 4 minutes, then push a sieve through the liquid, pressing the grounds to the bottom and leaving the coffee behind to be poured.

(You can find them cheaper elsewhere, but: http://www.bodumusa.com/shop/group_lines.asp?MD=1&GID=3&DIDIT_LID=27424676 and also, see camping equipment)

[erisians.livejournal.com]

I'd have to pick Cam. I really enjoy how you write him and the dynamic he has with Teal'c.

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

Ooooh, Cameron! Such a cutie, is Cam. I love when he loses his pants.

a. I came to first write Cam, wierdly, as a result of *signing up* for the Teal'c ficathon. I know, it has nothing to do with anything. I was requesting stuff, though, and I thought of and requested 'campfire stories' and in the process of getting back to my own journal the plot bunny bit and I ended up writing Campfirelight, Campfire Stories within like two days! I remember thinking campfire stories would need someone really curious like Cam prompting everyone to talk, and Cam would be required to gather them all around the fire, seeing as the other three were used to each other and could have handled one staying out on watch or something. I barely knew Cameron at all, though; only one or two episodes with Cam had aired.

b. Cameron unites people really nicely, and unlike, say Jack, is deeply invested in how he appears and whether he offends. Like Jack, though, he will not let someone be left behind, or do something alone or bear a burden alone (except for himself, of course) So it's wonderful to have him on a team, because he's never going to be the character saying 'me? Why do *I* have to play the straight man? I want the punch line!' he's very much a team player, wants everyone to succeed and is a generally competent, interested leader.

c. Except when he's not, of course, because Cam can be a hothead, and when he decides that someone (ahem, Teal'c) should not be alone, he will risk the battle, his own cover, his own safety and his friendships just to make sure he's *there* for Teal'c, not really understanding that perhaps, just perhaps, this is something Teal'c is okay doing on his own. He also for a while there was passionate about proving himself, which was a wierd need that influenced all kinds of dynamics. It was always good to have Teal'c around to sort of level a hand on his head and tell him to cool it.

d. I hear Cam pretty easily, he has a distinctive voice, and even if you as an author want to him to ham it up or put on the Southern for a minute, he's got nooooo problem with that. Team player, is Cam. Until it comes to food, because as many authors will tell you, it's dangerous as hell to get Cam going on food. Who knew he had such preferences about ice cream floats, for instance? I'm the author and I don't even *like* root beer. He'll take over and start lecturing, I tell you (Syncope, good Lord, Syncope was Cam musing about making CHUTNEY.)

e. I have no idea what to pick here, seriously. We'll go with Stadium Seating, even though it's Teal'c POV:

Cameron’s shirt was damp enough on his right side to cling to his ribs, but he didn’t seem to notice as he poured part of the only can of clear soda into the last glass. In Cameron's position, Teal’c would have taken advantage of the sleeping quarters and abundance of dry clothing just down the hall, but Cameron had spent most of the drive from the mountain impressing upon him his personal reverence for this tradition, and he seemed to be focused on his task.

“Right, start with these since they’re just for fairness' sake anyway.” He indicated the clear and exploded-soda floats, “And then we’ll get down to the real stuff.”

f. I had this one, really ambitious idea for Cam and Teal'c at one point, but it stalled out and I don't have anything else planned at the moment.

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Nobody asked for my favorite yet -- JACK! (You now, between tea and sleeping, when you get a chance...)

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

Ah, Jack. Mr. O'Neill.

a. This is the point where I have to admit that I've never written Jack POV outside of a Jack/Daniel story. I think it has something to do with the landmines in Jack's psyche, and how dissociated he can be from anyone who isn't on his (very) short list of People Who Matter. There is something intrinsically beautiful to me about how much Daniel softens Jack's edges and makes it okay to invite a stranger into his home to stay, or smile, or touch or loose or argue or fight. It's all a little more visceral when Daniel is about.

b. His best qualities, I think, are his sense of people and ability to read them. He's not (as I think I said somewhere up in the Cameron response) invested in the slightest in what people think of him, and will absolutely be the guy who says what no one else will; but he is invested in protecting people he cares about, so that fabled threat-assessment is really an ability to read people and gauge whether their good guys or people who need to be dead now.

c. His worst qualities are his stubborness and ability to be an ass, I think. That's probably redundant. He really doesn't care if you agree with him, or if any judgement passed is favorable unless it leads to further threats. So if you don't like it, you can just sit there and hold your breath waiting for it to change. I wonder if Charlie could have altered that about him, I suspect it was definitely hightened by Charlies death, but can you imagine the shake the roof yelling matches between Jack and Charlie-as-teenager? The neighbor's dogs would have howled.

d. Do I find him easy to write... Jack in my head serves the purpose of being the voice of need on the team. He's looking at the big picture when the other's are focused, he's pushing to get everything possible done when everyone else is stunned and waiting. I like that he will, if he likes you and he did something obnoxious, find a unique and quirky way of apologizing after the fact. I like that he's smart and self-effacing and leverages power with a light hand, I enjoy how he uses slang and pop-culture references to put you at ease through quirkiness.

I have no bloody idea what he is thinking most of the time, unless he's thinking tactically or about someone like Daniel, who brings out his playful, at ease, talkative side. I think he feels at peace with Teal'c, I think he needs Sam to do things he doesn't understand (and doesn't want to understand), but Daniel is the one he talks to, and he would barely *look* at Jonas (stubborn bastard.)

tbc, next comment

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

e. This is Sam POV, actually, but it's all the competence of Jack just as I have him give up tactical command. From All the Infections That the Sun Sucks Up:

She hears from Jack at 1423 on a Tuesday. The message is a set of tones, as though someone were misdialing, but McKay is back-calculating which number makes which tone and the number of potential coordinates before the last, elongated and grating tone stops. Sam wonders if he broke the push button. She also knows, definitively, that he is agreeing to help, but going on record as saying the plan sucks. She only needs Rodney to tell her where to send her people to meet him; message received.

Jack doesn't hang up, though, and neither does Sam. They sit for long breaths, Sam absently looking in McKay's direction and only barely registering his nodding and pointing. She listens for breathing on the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry," she says, careful to use no names.

"I've had this objective before, you know," he says conversationally.

"I know," she says, voice low with shared failure.

"Not that time, I mean more recently," he continues, emphasis laying oddly on the words, "just before. I think maybe it's time to let you take over. I never should have tried to be the brains of the operation."

"We'll find a way to get you out again," she feels as though she's twelve, negotiating for a scheme to go to an amusement park instead of a company function. Words empty, promises transparent bargaining. "We'll—"

"Yes, sir," he cuts her off. The reassurances were sounding hollow to her, too.

"God, I'm sorry," she says again, biting back his name at the last minute. There had been a time when she would never have even thought his name. She isn't sure when that changed.

"Me too," he says. Over the droning of the dial tone, she realizes it only took until the end of the world for them to learn to communicate.

f. Do not presently have any plans to write Jack, though I am immersed in everything I can do, beta-wise in assisting with a really ambitious Jack project that I am really very excited about. I hope you get to see Rydra's WIP of Doom really soon, it's going to be something.

ETA: Dangit! I have this little Cassie ficlet of her talking to Jack on the phone. It's hand written in one of my journals somewhere and I was going to put it in for the Secondary Character's Carnival of Squee... wonder if I can still make it?

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Yes yes yes! Love your Jack. Love your brain! Yay for enabling, and yay for Jack&Cassie, too!

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

Dude, I should really transcribe that. The only problem is that it's all dialog with absolutely nothing else going on... I need to decide if anyone can see each other or whose POV I'm focusing on so that I can describe some other senses.

When is the Carnival due? Did I miss all of it? I should check.

...ooooh, maybe I could play with omnicience!