Athosian for Beginners by Trinityofone (PG)

[fairestcat]

Hi, I'm Cat and I'm going to be driving the SGA van this month. I'm really excited about this, it's been almost 2 years since I put my name on the list to rec this fandom. Back then I was in the first heady rush of a new love. Two years later, my love has only grown and so much fabulous fic has been posted in this fandom, it's hard to know where to begin.

I read slash, het and gen, but I'm going to start my recs on the het side by reccing two of the stories posted for the Rodney/Teyla Thing-a-Thon earlier this year.

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: Rodney/Teyla
Author on LJ: trinityofone
Author Website: tales of an unreal city
Why this must be read:

One of the perpetual unanswered questions of the Stargate universe is why exactly almost everyone speaks the same language. The shows carefully avoid the issue entirely, but the fans have posited many possible solutions, the most popular of which is the idea of a universal translator built into the gate system. Trin takes the translator as given, a constant of life so pervasive it's nearly forgotten about by those who use it, until the day it unexpectedly breaks.

Without the translator, Teyla is un-moored, unable to make herself understood by the people she's come to depend on for friendship and emotional support. Trin explores Teyla's loneliness and sense of isolation with a deft skill, letting us feel her frustration and anger without villianizing any of the other characters. Countering that growing isolation is Teyla's gradually developing relationship with Rodney, as they work together to find a work-around for the missing translators. It's a richly nuanced story, with a wonderful Teyla pov and a perfect starting place for readers new to this somewhat-rare pairing.

Athosian for Beginners