fic: Untitled Anime piece (SGA)

[c&p'd from naye's journal, to save her inbox]

Original context:

naye was being somewhat traumatized by the anime she's watching. She begged for help. This was the best I could come up with at short notice.

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Rodney's door wouldn't open when John waved his hand over the control panel. And yes, okay, McKay was probably entitled to his privacy, but when he was two hours late for work and no one had seen him in the Mess Hall for breakfast, John was fairly sure something was wrong.

Of course, if Rodney was just holed up with a stash of MREs and a pet project, John was going to feel an even bigger idiot than he already did, prying the cover off the door panel and swapping the crystals around.

He wasn't sure he'd gotten the right combination until the door slid silently open, revealing the dark room beyond.

"McKay?"

There was no answer, but John could hear what sounded like music coming from a long way away. As he stepped over the threshold, blinking in the darkness, he recognized it as the tinny sound of something being played through laptop speakers. "McKay?" he said again, a little louder this time, because the lack of reply and the general gloom was starting to freak him out a little.

Turning, he saw a faint glow coming from the other side of the room, and he braced himself before slowly making his way over.

Rodney was sitting in the corner, half-hidden behind a pillar. He was curled up in the blanket from his bed, a pile of power bar wrappers on the floor beside his open laptop. The screen threw oddly colored lights across his face, and John frowned.

"McKay? What are you-"

"Shhhhh." Waving a hand vaguely, Rodney pulled the blanket. "Simon is…oh." He broke off, staring at the screen as though transfixed.

"Who's Simon?" Trying not to stumble in the gloom (he hadn't been wrong about the stash of MREs, which presumable had been the meal to which the power bars were the dessert), John crossed the few feet between him and Rodney and crouched down to look.

And immediately had to brace himself against the wall. "McKay!"

"Didn't I just say be quiet?" But Rodney's usual irritation volume was lacking as he watched the tiny figures on the screen do … something …

"You've been watching a cartoon? All night?" That wasn't too hard a deduction to make judging by the size of the power bar mountain. "What the hell?"

"It's anime," Rodney shot back, in a tone that suggested John had just mistaken a horse for a goat.

"Oookay." Deciding that one of them had to make an executive decision, John reached out and hit the space bar, pausing the- geez, what were they even doing? He decided he didn't want to know. "Time to get out there with the real people for a while, I think."

"Hey!" There was a brief struggle as Rodney tried to get free of the blanket enough to press play again, but it got tangled round his legs and he pitched face-first onto the floor as John made a dive for the laptop, pulling it out of reach. "You can't do that!"

"It's for your own good, buddy." Bookmarking the point where he'd paused it, John shut the laptop then went to help Rodney break free of the blanket. "Let's go get you some coffee."

"But…but…" Rodney didn't fight back when John caught his flailing hand and hauled him to his feet. "Simon just found out that Yoko loves Kamina, not him."

"Right." John picked up Rodney's jacket from the back of his desk chair and helped him into it. "And she'll still love him when you come back to it tonight."

"You don't understand." Rodney almost wailed. "Simon's traumatized! How is he supposed to fight the battle against the beastmen when his heart is broken?"

Coming to a stop, John took Rodney by the shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Rodney! It's a cartoon."

"Anime"

"Whatever!" Shaking him not-quite-so-carefully this time, John pushed Rodney towards the door. "It'll still be here when you get back." This time when he waved his hand over the panel, the door opened smoothly, and he dragged Rodney out into the corridor. "Assuming you can hold it together that long."

Rodney sniffed. "I suppose so. What time is it, anyway?"

"Gone eleven." Since Rodney still looked a little dazed, John put a hand on his elbow and gently guided him towards the Mess Hall. "You know, you should really wait for movie night before staying up for hours watching bad … TV."

"Oh yeah, right. Like you guys would want to watch Gurren Lagann with me."

That was probably a fair point, and as they stepped into the transporter, John dragged up the words to ask something that had been bugging him since he'd pressed 'pause'.

"Er, Rodney. Those were drills they were holding. Right?"

Cover me, I'm going in. Er. Out

I haven't been out of the house in nearly 48 hours. But I need cough medicine and lemons and bananas and things, so I need to venture out there. With only slight guilt, I'm going to drive up to Sainsbury's rather than walk to the local shops, since it'll involve being out in the cold for just a few minutes, rather than the 15 minute trot each way. It is sunny, but that can be deceptive.

*shivers*

If I'm not back in three hours, please send out a search party.

Muscling in on someone else's holiday

Last year, I was very aware of when Thanksgiving was in the States, but this year, it seems to have crept up on me.

Anyway, I'm feeling hugely, immensely thankful today, and since it's write this is or burst, I figured I'd go for writing. The other's messier, although given my tendency to dissolve into tears at the least provocation*, only just.

Anyway, over the last week, I've been reminded of just how hugely blessed I am. My husband and I have had time together, and time with our families, and reminders of how good life is. And since we got home on Sunday, I've had constant reminders of how incredibly fortunate I am to have all my friendslist. One of my favourite things in the whole world is getting post, and since Sunday I've received 2 postcards, 3 parcels of presents and a book. I've been sent sparkly things, shiny things, homemade things, pretty things and gifts so thoughtful and so *me* that they've taken my breath away. Over the last year, I've had emails, comments, cards and postcards and nothing but support from everyone, whether it's in plotting silliness or in offering wise advice.

I came to Livejournal to have somewhere to post my stories. I didn't expect to find a network of caring, imaginative, thoughtful people, who enrich my life on a daily basis.

Since I'm starting to gush, I shall stop there but. I appreciate you all, so much, and this seemed like a good time of the year to tell you. *nods*

Don't eat too much, y'all, okay?

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*I kid you not. Films and TV programmes are pretty much a given, but adverts have been known to have me reaching for the tissues. And don't get me started on books...