Fic: When I Sorrow Most (McKay/Sheppard, NC-17)

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Title: When I Sorrow Most
Author: the_cephalopod
Recipient: sheafrotherdon
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~55,000 words
Warnings: Angst, but I can guarantee a happy ending.
Spoilers: Set early in season 3, so nothing for anything recent.
Author's notes: Happy Christmas Cate! Thank you for your lovely multi-optioned prompt; I tried to encompass as much as possible - I hope you enjoy! Many thanks to my amazing betas - you know who you are - and to moonlettuce and alyse for organising such a wonderful fic exchange!

Summary: "Hey," John said, trying to lighten the tone a little. "The IOA are getting better," he said, reaching across the bed to flick the little Canadian flag on Rodney's jacket before nodding his head towards Ronon and Teyla.

"Yes, well, I suppose so," Rodney sniffed. "It's not as if they could do without me, anyway."

"Or indeed any of us," Teyla added with a smile.

"Well, I hope you all realise that our success is entirely down to the exceptional talent and expertise of your team leader," John said.

"Oh, yes, of course," Rodney replied sarcastically. "We'd be nothing without you."

When I Sorrow Most

Please note, due to the size of this story, it is being hosted offsite.

Comments

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

Goodness, gracious, that was EPIC. It's taken me most of the day, between everything else, and a good hour here at the day's end to read this through, and I feel like I'll be turning this over in my mind for a long time!

First of all - when I asked for John and Rodney dumbface in love, and angst with a happy ending, and world-building, I never imagined someone would roll them all together like this! I'm truly amazed at how many things you wove into this story, and so happy about it!! I love the Team-ness of it, love that there's so much interaction between Rodney and Teyla and Ronon, and that the shorter appearances by Lorne and Radek are so wonderfully fleshed out. The world-building was amazing - and I love that the Catarans have cars! All hail a world where everyone's progressed beyond medieval sets! The attention to detail made me gleeful - it sticks in my mind that the buildings on Catara were built with mortar, and that the team would notice because that's such an unusual thing. It's little details like that that make it feel real, and solid, and a world I could visit (with the right sort of means ;D )!

The science here is a thing of beauty, and you used the Team to such great effect to show Rodney operating on one level and yet able to explain it to others (most especially the reader!) in comprehensible terms. I appreciated, so much, all the thought that had to have gone into putting the plot and the science together, because you plugged every hole - explaining why the Wraith weren't anywhere near; explaining how the orbiting vessel was invisible to them for so long; explaining a division between the workings of state and the workings of private industry that would lead to a breakdown, or a manipulation of the Cataran system. Oh, and speaking of Catarans - Trin was wonderfully realized. The passage where John ruminates on the difference between Rodney's intelligence and Trin's is just so astutely done, and it fleshes out John as a military commander as well as someone who's invested in Rodney's general well-being.

I dug the fact that the tenses changed with the switch between past and present in the story's timeline, and that the POV switch matched each section break. It served the purpose of allowing you to tell so much more of the story than with a single POV (which I noticed as a writer) but it also just added to the depth and richness of the tale (which I relished as a reader!)

There's just so much here - from Rodney's atypically messy room (complete with discarded clothes at the end), to the Earth politics that intrude upon Atlantis, to the multiple ways John constantly scans for exits and points of defense, drawing on lessons learned. I can't imagine how much time this took you, and I am grateful for every minute - and now I'm off to my journal to tell everyone else to come over here and read this beauty!

THANK YOU! ♥

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I can't tell you how thrilled I am that you liked the story. I was really pleased to get your lovely prompt and realise all the potential you'd given me. Stories with strong plots and lots of team interaction are amongst my favourites, so it was wonderful to be able to create something intricate and detailed for you.

As you could probably tell, I'm drawn to writing sci-fi in particular because I can incorporate lots of science into the plot. I'd wanted to write a story about a particle accelerator ever since CERN hit the headlines and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. All the physics used, insofar as Rodney explains it, it is correct. In particular, the idea about nuclear matter being only meta-stable is something hypothesised by physicists such as Witten and others. Although, of course, there is no experimental evidence to suggest that this is something that occurs in nature as then goes on to happen in this story, but, then again, it hasn't been ruled out either...!

The dual timeline came about because I wanted John to have a real presence throughout. I have a weakness for first-time stories, so it also meant I could detail the developing relationship between the boys. I also felt the need to contrast the angst from the 'present' by having a 'past' that was much lighter and happier.

Creating Catara was also a lot of fun, especially as it would have to be nearing our level of scientific advancement for them to be able to at least partially understand to the accelerator itself and to have discovered something of the nature of the pulsar and the make-up of matter itself. I also have to confess to taking particular delight in partially modelling Trin on a physicist I actually know...

There were moments when I wasn't certain I was going to finish on time. I was also worried that I'd rush the ending or that everything would get too bogged down in the science to hold people's interest. I started getting really nervous about it being posted and I just have to say how grateful I was to get your wonderful comment and recommendation, both of which had me beaming for days afterwards.

*hugs*

cep xxx

PS Oh yes, you're right - I am English and I'm afraid that I can't quite bring myself to americanise my spelling... *g*