HA!

[minxy]

Have gotten beta comments back with the stamp of approval... hang on, lemme get this straight *puts on reading glasses, just at the tip of nose* it looks in great shape! Ha! Never mind where she goes on to berate me mercilessly about my comma splices! Just you never mind that.

Because, flist, *takes off reading glasses thoughtfully,* this fic took some wrassling, yes it did. Sweaty, dirty, not by-the-rulebook wrassling that hopefully leaves the viewing public not a little turned on. Yes, unlike my last fic, this one is pretty smutty. It is also a smidge creepy, on account of it's for the Through the Gate Darkly ficathon. Myself, I had to toss a coin to decide between taking a hot or a cold shower at the end of it, that's how mucky it got forcing this story to get written. Why, you ask? Probably because for the first time, I believe, I had a prompt from someone I know. What's more, I really respect her writing, and I have more than a vague idea of how she would write this prompt herself, which is just a smidge intimidating. But done. Almost. Barring last minute tweaking. And fixing those comma splices, obviously. Posting tomorrow.

Solution, for anyone who finds themselves in a similar embarrassment of riches, was to write the story she wouldn't have written. And then wrastle with your characters until they get on with it! Darn those pesky moral compasses. DARN YOU, CHARACTERS! DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS A DARK FIC??? NO CONSCIENCES ALLOWED.

Makes a girl long for the simpler days of writing Jaffa voice, where the words are precise, the silences speak volumes and no one ever talks about how they feel, not even when proposing marriage.

So I thought I'd natter on about Teal'c for a minute, and the appalling canon silence about him that is so rife with potential fanfic. Also because posting fanfic even remotely about Teal'c leads to such fascinating discussions with people.

Teal'c Meta

Those of you who remember how I went on about Sam that time should be afraid.

Nevertheless, like I did that other time with Sam, I shall state my qualifications for talking about Teal'c, which in this case aren't instances of having anything in common with the guy, but are just stories I've written about him or from his POV.

The first Teal'c fic I wrote had absolutely no dialog in it at all, and I always pictured that face Teal'c makes when he's listening, mildly disturbed by what he hears, but not going to challenge it because he knows his place in the Earth hierarchy, and it ain't high. Into the Breach is a lonely, accepting, passive season 7 Teal'c. It was the first time I really thought about how conditioned Teal'c was to follow orders, accept events as the happened to him, but how unusual his proactive choice in Children of the Gods is. Turning on Apophis marks the first freedom Teal'c embraces: choosing where to place his loyalty. My theory is that the multitude of times since where he has resigned his position on SG-1 or with the SGC to do... whatever, is him playing with that freedom.

I suspect that it takes him a really long time to own the ability to choose, though, which is probably why other Jaffa questioning his loyalty hurts him so much.

It's a theme that I really love with Teal'c, that he carefully chooses to reexamine things he has always taken for granted: whether to shave his head, whether to wear kohl, how to conduct his friendships and romances, his sense of honor and whether he has the right to impose his decisions on other people. I played with it again in the Teal'c and Sam friendship fic also from Teal'c's POV called Perchance to Dream which spans seasons 6 and 7 and contrasts his behavior with Sam's, to some degree, since as a rather unusual woman, she also fights some cultural expectations.

The only other fic I've written from Jaffa POV was posted just a few weeks ago, called Footsoldiers on Uneven Ground, and was so much fun to write, because I wrote Teal'c backstory. Yes.

Here's what we know about Teal'c's backstory: He was born into Kronos's service, in the warrior caste. His father was the highest ranking warrior, as First Prime, and was fiercely disillusioned enough by the time Kronos killed him that his very young son was left with nothing but blame for the God.

Unusually, Teal'c left the service of Kronos for Apophis, a rival God. Once there, there is every indication that Teal'c and his mother would have been on the edges of society, perhaps even outcasts. Jaffa culture has had it's share of one group of Jaffa being absorbed into another group by virtue of victory and defeat in battle, but it is unlikely that independent choice to leave one's God for another would be viewed as something to be lauded; instead, it would almost certainly be viewed as dishonorable. It is interesting, then, that Teal'c was all but adopted by a warrior of the highest class in Apophis's service, and groomed to succeed him. This was the bit of his history that I danced around in with Footsoldiers, because leaving Kronos' service for Apophis' is a really proactive choice, and if it was Teal'c's mother's choice, then that might be the precident that let him consider that kind of option.

Beyond that, Teal'c's rebellious belief in the fallibility of Gods was nurtured during his childhood/young-adulthood, despite overwhelming societal pressure to believe in Apophis' perfection. We know Teal'c has a powerful sense of honor, we know he takes responsibility for his choices even if he had no choice and will carry the burden of them for years, even as one memory gets piled onto another. We know all of this was true of him long before he met SG-1, and yet, it is a spare story for an eighty some year old son, husband, father and preeminent warrior.

Teal'c did meet SG-1, however, and left every responsibility he had under Apophis on faith that he could do noble work. As green_girl put it, Teal'c (and Bra'tac) are romantic fools for honor and adventure. And possibly even love (but I'm biased.)

Without going into ten seasons of canon for Teal'c, let's talk about what a challenging presence he must be at the SGC. Here you have a military machine, a system run by people on faith that they do right even when they do horrible things. Within this system, you have a quiet man whose physical presence alone draws into question everything they've taken for granted, everything they believe. I suspect the majority of the people at the SGC do not want to think too carefully about the parallels of their service as warriors as they deal with aliens and intergalactic travel and more physics than most people ever want to know. I was chatting with jenlev about this and I think there must be Teal'c groupies at the SGC: grunts who question or find him fascinating, a group of the civilian philosophers who realized Teal'c would train them, not just beat them up, who just can't believe that fearing that man is all there is to it. I think there are always one or two people a year that take the intro course Teal'c teaches and then sign up for the optional training course, hoping that if they just hang out with him long enough, just watch him, that they'll start to understand. I like to think that if anyone tried to take Teal'c away from the SGC under duress now they'd have to go through a wall of 20-somethings standing shoulder to shoulder blocking the elevator. Right next to Cameron, who is, like, president of the Teal'c fanclub.

Also, the guy has got to be just magnetic for philosophers, even if they are intimidated by him. Daniel not only forgave him for hurting his wife, but then turned around and forgave him again when Teal'c turned around and refused to let Daniel sacrifice himself to (dubiously) save her. Now, that says a lot about Daniel, like, a LOT, but it also says a hellalot about Teal'c. Teal'c's faith in, loyalty to and instant read of Jack as worth following makes him a pretty stellar judge of character considering that Jack did not present himself as honorable in a way a Jaffa traditionally would. Additionally, Teal'c's friendship with Sam is highly unusual for someone coming from a society with such delineated gender roles. Teal'c has also deeply loved at least two women (Drey'auc and Ishta) who have transcended what might be limitations to fight for people they love and be incredibly independent in a society that actively discouraged that.

One of my favorite things with Teal'c is the notion that freedom brings the potential for owning mistakes, like revisiting beloved traditions or actions or memories and reexamining them without a religious doctrine to tell you what to feel. It's a tribute to his strength of character that he's the first to do it, but it wouldn't be so impressive if he didn't lose his bearings, or at least risk it from time to time.

And now we've dealt with the (meager) canon for this character, let us discuss the fanon. I don't think I'm too far off the mark saying I've read most of the Teal'c centered fic out there-- certainly what I could find. I think it's fairly safe to say the following things are generally accepted: Teal'c knows poetry, and the Jaffa in general value poetry as an art form and a way of remember the grand battles, etc, of the past. Salieri, the Brilliant, wrote The Water Moon, which has Teal'c repeating some of his wife's favorite love poetry, and I took that thought to a smutty place with Cam in The Eye is not Satisfied with Seeing. The way I see it, Teal'c has an unlimited supply of traditions available at any time for your fanfic needs, much like Atlantis can provide an ancient gadget on command that will drive your plot anywhere you need it to go.

Poetry is interesting, though, as a launching pad for discussing how the Jaffa, as what seems to be a warrior/priest caste of people, are going to progress to an independent, self-sufficient society without differentiating a little to some new career options. Somebody is going to have to farm, after all. But some professions are easier to visualize being embraced by the Jaffa, like bards. I could see a warrior father being mildly please that his son or daughter was going to learn and share the history of the people. Of course, without the drinking culture, the tavern environment would likely be a bit altered, but it could still easily make the transition. I bet the Jaffa could come to seriously value singing, too, particularly as a way to tell stories of honor and valor. Very Greek.

Beyond poetry, we have the notion that Teal'c is training new recruits or conducting training courses in general to stay busy. It is canon that he has varied and eclectic interest in self-directed studies, from Earth religions to interior decorating to scifi movies to hats and clothing styles, to psychology and dream interpretation to the baser aspects of Earth based culture like jello wrestling (that was his idea). He can't stay in that good a shape just boxing occasionally with Jack, though. Gotta be a gym rat.

And now for the question and answer section of the meta:

How to write Jaffa voice: The Jaffa speak formally, with clear enunciation, no slang or contractions, but it's not otherwise particularly old fashioned. It is precise, not archaic. Teal'c, for all he can go for long, long periods without saying anything, will not skimp on the words if he has something to say. He will never sacrifice precision for brevity, and he is not monosyllabic by any stretch.

That said? RW always catches at least one contraction sneaking in to someone's thought processes somewhere.

How do you write compelling stories for a character who has no problem with long silences and is rarely compelled to speak? Well, set a slower pace for the story, for one thing. I don't know. I think Teal'c is easiest to write in one-on-one situations, meditating with Daniel or sparring with Jack or out for Chinese food with Cam. In a briefing room scene, he's just not going to speak unless spoken to, and he does have a sense of rank and place, so he will defer, you just have to watch that. He will always let Daniel translate Goa'uld, for example, or heiroglyphics, when presumably for Teal'c it is a mothertongue. I think it's down to rank and place. It's Daniel's place (also he just talks so darn fast.)

Does Teal'c ever drink alcohol? I was so, so fond of the idea that sometimes, when he's really chillin', he'll have a glass of wine with his Jaffa buddies. There was a scene in the Imhotep episode where Teal'c is hanging with Rak'nor (who is just so, so good looking) and lounging about in a tent off-world somewhere in robes drinking from an earthenware chalice. Chillin'. rydra_wong and thassalia have made really strong cases for no drinking (or at least hosted the discussion that more or less convinced me.) I just want him to let go every once in a while! Fortunately, once day he met Ishta, and that pretty much solved my issues.

Why is Teal'c underluved by fandom? The million dollar question. I don't know the answer. Maybe it's the unusual speech patterns. Maybe it's identifying with a character we have very little in common with (at least on the surface). Maybe it's a race issue, maybe it's Teal'c's inability to fall passionately into someone's arms after a melodramatic saving of him out of some dire somefink somefink... I don't know. I do know that I have been encouraged by a disproportionate number of 'Scapers, predisposed, perhaps, to see the amazing potential of an alien discovering freedoms and emotions for the first time. So there's that.

Why is Teal'c underluved in the smutty underbelly of fandom? I don't know this either. I've been known to write him into quite the porny situation, I think it's very possible, especially with Cam on the scene as his head groupie. Also, canonically, Teal'c gets lucky a helluva lot more than any other characters do, so it's not his inherent sexability that keeps him out of the porny fics, clearly.

They say write what you want to see, so I think now would be a good time to thank moonshayde for running the tealc_ficathon last year. Hope we can do it again, actually. If you're interested, I recc'd absolutely everything as it was posted from that ficathon and the synopses are here. Also as well, there's my big ol' list of Teal'c recs. Who luvs ya, baby? Teal'c also figures in pretty loudly in a lot of my fic that's not specifically from his POV (like any time Cameron is in the same room with him,) so if you'd like to meander through my other stuff, you'll find it here.

That was much more subdued that the Sam meta fic from once upon a time. Feel free to chat or ask questions or whatever in the comments so I don't feel like I'm giving poor T short shrift.