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katie-m.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crack_van2004-02-28 07:19 am
katie-m.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-02-28 07:19 am
Entry tags:
To Drive the Cold Winter Away by Thevetia (unrated; I'd call it PG to PG-13)
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: None
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thevetia
Author's Website: Thevetia's Page
Why this must be read:
I confessed earlier that I'm a sucker for a Jack with real depth, and Thevetia gives us that here with style. Her Jack and Daniel are both resolutely three-dimensional - they feel not only like real people, but like real friends. I think that's partly because she's not afraid to combine intimacy and awkwardness in her portrayal of them; there's a... this is going to sound weird as a compliment, but it's the best way I can think of to put it... a distance that she has from them, that leaves me feeling like I've seen them clear. Combined with that distance, though, there's a real warmth that makes me smile.
Plus, this story makes me overflow with Jack-love. Thevetia's version of him is courageous and cowardly and secretive and incredibly generous of spirit, and I adore him.
Short version: Jack takes Daniel home to his family in Chicago the first Christmas after Sha're's death.
I'm going to get my main criticism out of the way first: Jack's family is way over the top. I can just about believe in Jack's reaction to them, but as characters, well, they're too uniformly awful for me to find them believable. Plus she should've chosen either left-wing or right-wing nastiness, I think; the combination is a little weird.
That said, I adore Daniel's reaction to them, the way they become hostile aliens in his head, and I like very much that he is not angry on his own behalf, but on Jack's. I like the reality and solidity of Abydos, the importance given to Daniel's life there, and to Sha're. And most of all, I like that Jack and Daniel do not get together at the end.
Thevetia has written three Stargate stories that I know of; the other two are J/D slash, and it's certainly possible to read this story as pre-slash. (I have no doubt that the very end is meant to leave the question open.) It could very easily have turned into a first-time story: Gosh, Jack, you're bi? Why, I find I am somewhat attracted to you as well! Let's fuck like bunnies! It doesn't, though.
Daniel is surprised that Jack's had relationships with men - because, you know, Jack hides that fact about him what with the whole military issue. Jack does not follow up this revelation by coming on to Daniel. Daniel does not follow it up by suddenly realizing he is attracted to Jack, despite never before having considered the question. Daniel assumes - and I see no reason to see this as a bad reading - that Jack feels strongly enough about military regulations that he wouldn't break them by engaging in a relationship with a man. (I personally believe that military personnel should be able to openly sleep with men, women, or Asgard as they please - but I liked seeing a portrayal of Jack where he didn't automatically think "eh, screw the regs." I can believe he'd think that, but I can believe he'd think this as well.)
There's a sense of possibility at the end, a wondering. It could go either way; Daniel's got this new piece of information about someone he loves, and he's sorting out categories in his head. 'Sokay. There's time to figure it out, one way or another, and I like that we don't end up seeing that process.
It was strange to be in O'Hare with Jack. Strange to find their way without speaking through the airport maze and know that this was familiar ground to both of them. Strange, that their memories of it weren't mutual.
To Drive the Cold Winter Away
Pairing: None
Author on LJ:
thevetiaAuthor's Website: Thevetia's Page
Why this must be read:
I confessed earlier that I'm a sucker for a Jack with real depth, and Thevetia gives us that here with style. Her Jack and Daniel are both resolutely three-dimensional - they feel not only like real people, but like real friends. I think that's partly because she's not afraid to combine intimacy and awkwardness in her portrayal of them; there's a... this is going to sound weird as a compliment, but it's the best way I can think of to put it... a distance that she has from them, that leaves me feeling like I've seen them clear. Combined with that distance, though, there's a real warmth that makes me smile.
Plus, this story makes me overflow with Jack-love. Thevetia's version of him is courageous and cowardly and secretive and incredibly generous of spirit, and I adore him.
Short version: Jack takes Daniel home to his family in Chicago the first Christmas after Sha're's death.
I'm going to get my main criticism out of the way first: Jack's family is way over the top. I can just about believe in Jack's reaction to them, but as characters, well, they're too uniformly awful for me to find them believable. Plus she should've chosen either left-wing or right-wing nastiness, I think; the combination is a little weird.
That said, I adore Daniel's reaction to them, the way they become hostile aliens in his head, and I like very much that he is not angry on his own behalf, but on Jack's. I like the reality and solidity of Abydos, the importance given to Daniel's life there, and to Sha're. And most of all, I like that Jack and Daniel do not get together at the end.
Thevetia has written three Stargate stories that I know of; the other two are J/D slash, and it's certainly possible to read this story as pre-slash. (I have no doubt that the very end is meant to leave the question open.) It could very easily have turned into a first-time story: Gosh, Jack, you're bi? Why, I find I am somewhat attracted to you as well! Let's fuck like bunnies! It doesn't, though.
Daniel is surprised that Jack's had relationships with men - because, you know, Jack hides that fact about him what with the whole military issue. Jack does not follow up this revelation by coming on to Daniel. Daniel does not follow it up by suddenly realizing he is attracted to Jack, despite never before having considered the question. Daniel assumes - and I see no reason to see this as a bad reading - that Jack feels strongly enough about military regulations that he wouldn't break them by engaging in a relationship with a man. (I personally believe that military personnel should be able to openly sleep with men, women, or Asgard as they please - but I liked seeing a portrayal of Jack where he didn't automatically think "eh, screw the regs." I can believe he'd think that, but I can believe he'd think this as well.)
There's a sense of possibility at the end, a wondering. It could go either way; Daniel's got this new piece of information about someone he loves, and he's sorting out categories in his head. 'Sokay. There's time to figure it out, one way or another, and I like that we don't end up seeing that process.
It was strange to be in O'Hare with Jack. Strange to find their way without speaking through the airport maze and know that this was familiar ground to both of them. Strange, that their memories of it weren't mutual.
To Drive the Cold Winter Away