Fic: Beasts of War and Burden (McKay/Sheppard, NC-17)

[sgasesa-admin.livejournal.com]

Title: Beasts of War and Burden
Author: taste_is_sweet
Recipient: tarlanx
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard; Background het pairings
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 38,000
Disclaimer: Definitely not mine, though I do have a lot of fun with them.
Warnings: Graphic violence and depiction of injuries.
Author's Notes: I was lucky enough to get tarlanx! I've enjoyed her stories starring the myriad of actor David Hewlett's characters for years and was really happy to have the chance to give her something back this time. She wanted a McKay-centric story with angst, hurt/comfort, drama, action/adventure and humor, but mostly a plot. :) She also really wanted a story using one of the alternate universes from the TV series.

All I can say is that I tried very, very hard to give you the kind of story I thought you'd like, Tarlanx. (This fic is try number four, as a matter of fact.) I really hope you enjoy this!

Happy holidays! And thank you again for all your wonderful stories.

I also want to thank my Betas of Awesome: squeakyoflight and anna_bird. You both are hugely appreciated, as always. Any inadvertent goofs or suckage was put in after they went over the story, and are entirely my fault.

Summary: "Oh my God. We've landed on fucking Pern."

( Beasts of War and Burden )

Comments

[runpunkrun]

Yay! That was so much fun. LOVED the descriptions of the dragons -- Rodney jamming a nostril into John's coffee cup! -- how they can be playful and possessive and tender and vicious. I appreciate that you made it difficult to be a dragon; it's a painful process, and communication is nearly impossible. Introducing problems like that gave this fantastic thing an edge, a sense of realism that makes the story all the more believable and interesting.

Lorne and Jeannie were adorable together, as were John and Rodney, obvs, and I really liked Carson, which is uncommon for me. ;)

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

[crooked-halo8.livejournal.com]

Oh that was gorgeous! I loved it. Once I got my head wrapped around which universe was which and how AU this story was from the canon universe, I simply couldn't stop reading and loved every word. Fabulous!

[jesse_the_k]

Delightful! I laughed and wept!

[saffronhouse.livejournal.com]

Golly--helluva ride, fantastic adventure!

[sherry57.livejournal.com]

This was a really beautiful story. I don't usually go too quickly for stories where he boys aren't human but I'm really glad I started reading this one. I felt all fuzzy at the end....a really great adventure story but with romance as well in tons. Terrific friendship story....a friends and lovers will stay loyal no matter what story. Loved it, thanks.

[margarks.livejournal.com]

I loved this. It was sweet and angsty. I really loved seeing Jeannie fleshed out and Lorne was adorable! But I especially loved John and Rodney's relationship, no matter their form :)

[chkc.livejournal.com]

I love this story so much! Dragons! Peanut butter! There are also many unexpected but wonderful twists and turns and details, like the changes to the Wraith and the differences between the two realities. <3333

[ribbon-purple.livejournal.com]

I LOVED IT! Oh, sweetie, that was awesome. ♥

[danceswithgary]

I loved how you took The Daedalus Variations and added a dash of Tao of Rodney to a cut-off Atlantis to make such a very cool AU!

[seliki.livejournal.com]

This is some seriously awesome writing and I loved every minute of it.

[zoemathemata.livejournal.com]

OMG, this was SO AWESOME. I loved how you anthropomorphized [sp?] dragon!Rodney! He was so great and I just wanted to smish him! and the descriptions of the change between dragon and human were fantastic. Loved the dynamic between John and Rodney and Rodney and Jeannie and Jeannie and Lorne..... sigh! So good!

[i-cant-talk-now.livejournal.com]

wonderful!
can i hope for a sequel?

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. :D

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

You are very, very welcome. I'm truly delighted that you enjoyed the story, since it was very important to me to write something that you would like. I was a little concerned that the story wasn't McKay-centric enough because there were no scenes from his point of view (Rodney's my favourite character too, so I definitely knew what you wanted), but I hope it was okay that he was nonetheless the most important character in the story (to my mind, anyway...).

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! :D

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I also hope you nephew is all right!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Considering I think of you as the leader in all things scary and disturbing (not to mention AU) when it comes to SGA fic, your praise always means a great deal. And knowing that you stayed up late to read it is wonderful praise indeed. :D

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was determined to restore poor Rodney to his normal self by the end, so I'm very happy you enjoyed that part too. :)

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

:D Thank you!

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :D I always like to have a slower reveal in stories, so it makes me very happy to read that you enjoyed it. I'm also glad that you thought the two different AUs were fun. I was going for something recognizable but different from canon, and I love Jeannie and Kawalsky so I was very happy to have an opportunity to write about them.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Did you guess right? ::g::

Thank you very much for your superlative praise, SW. As usual, I'm very happy you enjoyed it and I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me so in such detail. I'm also very glad that you like Kawalsky as much as I do. It was a great pleasure to find a way to keep him alive and well. Not to mention that he turned out to be very useful, too....

This Jeannie was a lot of fun to write, so it's great to see that you liked her.

::Wiggling my Elf ears back at you.::

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'm really glad you liked everything. It seemed natural to change both universes when I started the story so I'm happy you liked that, as well as the relationships. :D That's awesome.

[taste-is-sweet.livejournal.com]

As it happens, I wrote a sequel wherein Lorne can indeed still turn into a dragon. :) (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_santa/324296.html)

Thank you for your comment! Epic win, eh? Whoop! :D