AlphaCen fic: Midway

[hth]

Midway
by Hth

Rodney/Sheppard/Ronon (post-series Alpha Centauri)
10,500 words

"The midway is divided into three main sections," Sheppard explained, making the same obscure pointing gestures he made in the field to indicate their next maneuver, "and each one is anchored by its own ferris wheel."

"I’ll give you a hundred dollars not to make us ride all three," Rodney said.

(A/N: Dear marythefan -- I'm sorry I made fun of the pie-judging contest. Love, Hth.)

Comments

[dodificus.livejournal.com]

This is probably going to be a weird thing to start with but...I loved the way you wrote the old man with the goat. I liked how Ronon drew Rodney's attention to him and then the way you wrote how he was with the goat. God, even as I'm typing this I realise I sound like an enormous tool but for some reason that old guy was the emotional hot spot for me in this story.

Umm, to move onto less weird things...I really enjoyed the story. The way John just announced that they had to act less gay was horrible and I felt for Rodney having to hear that. I liked Rodney's little phone call to Ronon while he was putting the panda in the car. I even liked Rodney's giant snit that lasted almost the entire story:)

[arby-m.livejournal.com]

Actually? I totally know what you mean, in fact I think that's where I started taking Ronon more seriously in this story (not having read the rest of the series - yet), which in turn made me appreciate him as more than just comic relief. And I loved the end when Ronon was feeding the small, unappreciated animals - it was a little window into his personality that worked so nicely.

Old man with the goat FTW! Also, I liked that the old man's goat didn't actually win - it went against expectations, which is always cool.

[ratcreature]

This was a lot of fun to read. I loved the atmosphere of the carnival descriptions, John's love of ferris wheels and Ronon's interest in farm animals. And their relationship was great, and how their love showed, even though they bicker and squabble a lot with each other here. I also liked how the mundane stuff and arguments lead to deeper discussions.

I noticed one thing though, in the middle, first you have this sentence "Sheppard came off the Himalaya looking a good five years younger" and then a bit below that "He'd lost all the years the carnival ride had put back, and suddenly he looked out of place," and that sounded strange to me, because from context I thought it was supposed to mean that he looked older again, but the sentence was confusing for me, i.e. at first I didn't get whether the years referred to the age he has or the time remaining for him, so when I read that he lost years, at first I thought he seemed younger yet again, until I figured out that it might refer not to his age, but to his remaining time. Um, I hope my explanation what confused me made sense. It's really a minor point overall, but it completely threw me out of the story while I was reading.

[copracat]

I love you like crazy. I love you like pie. Like a pie-loving person loves people like pie; that much.

[not-sally.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, I need to re-read the entire series, shriek my head off, and then come back to read this.



\o/

[not-sally.livejournal.com]

Ok, now that I'm done?
I still feel this line makes the best, most appropriate sense I could ever be able to string into words:

"I'm suing you for emotional whiplash," Rodney said into his neck.

I love this fic, and this series, and you, and the world, right now.
*hugs fic tight*

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i was rodney at this fair every second of the way, slightly claustrophobic and almost annoyed with himself that he's so out of place but then annoyed with the people for being so other and enjoying themselves and with john to have dragged him there.

and i can see rodney creating this huge meaningful we're moving here story with little or no support from sheppard and sheppard's complete inability to get the nuances of rodney's thought processes but being able to say/do the right thing in the end anyway.

and ronon was great, trying to go with the flow because he doesn't have their baggage with this place and only takes it as the crappy carnivale for one day on their trip rather than as this meaningful symbol that rodney thinks it might be...

and your description of the ferris wheel is about as good a fanwank as it gets, b/c there's nothing in sheppard's canon characterization to explain that line really...but in your description, that throwaway line finally fits into canon sheppard!

[blackpapertiger.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story (as I have the rest of the series) because you manage such fantastic emotional impact in it. I don't know if you intend it this way, (because no one else seems to have this same reaction) but at least with the last few stories, I feel incredibly bad for John... with this one, taking people to someplace that was important to you as a kid and having them... so obviously not enjoy themselves, and resent it, just sucks. and while I understand Rodney's whole point about people staring at them, and his anger at having to hide their relationship, it still makes my stomach clench for John because...yeah. Also, it makes Rodney seem vaguely hypocritical, or kind of elitist because he's perfectly willing to drag them to opera, because it's, y'know, high culture and he enjoys it, but that was a worthy pursuit, while John's fair, which he loves, isn't. I dunno, maybe I've spent too many summers with my cousins at the Ohio State Fair (you ain't seen nothing til you've seen giant butter cows) but there's something there too that's just as important as opera and particle physics.

Good lord, I didn't know I had that to say... basically I think I identify more with John, and you do a wonderful job with him here, and I especially loved the bits where Rodney is talking about John lying, and how he does it flat and brazen and not caring if they know, because your descriptions are so detailed, i can hear him saying that in my head. Thanks!

[choisir-fate.livejournal.com]

Perfect, perfect perfect continuation of this series of stories which will always remain one of my all time favorites in any fandom. These three can have their happy ever after, but do have to work so damned hard to get it and keep it. Their stumbling steps and bravery is both painful and sweet to read.

I did not expect to see anything else in this wonderful universe of yours, so to see this was a real treat.

Thank you very much for sharing.

[dine.livejournal.com]

animals; crap no one needs, but buys anyway; food-onna-stick - your descriptions nailed the fair experience for me!

there's not enough of John's backstory in canon (and fanon, sometimes) so this opportunity to share an experience he'd enjoyed with his lovers was really sweet. I admit to not quite understanding Rodney's complete lack of enthusiasm (except it's Rodney, and that's something he does) until he revealed the scenario he'd dreamed up, and the reason behind some of his negativity. and Ronon of course just seemed to go with the flow, ignoring the natives and checking out these new experiences.

the relationship in this universe works - I am in awe of and love the entire series

oh, my *heart*.

[kormantic.livejournal.com]

Ronon and the llama, and winning a Panda for Rodney and Rodney bitching out the lady at the stall and trying not to spoil the park for John and John kissing Ronon and living at boarding school and loving the sky.

Lovely.

[chaps1870.livejournal.com]

Beautiful. Loved the ending. I never understood the thrill of a Ferris wheel, but the way you explained it made perfect sense. Cool.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

Oh, you made my day with this. I love these guys so much. Thank you.

[witling.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, this was wonderful. Funny and sweet and great. I love Ronon feeding the animals in his inimitable way. And the mutually-agreed-upon decision not to pursue the paternal thought track any farther just now.

Although I'd probably pay you your weight in chocolate to give them a baby.

[briar_pipe]

This was awesome! I was a little worried about the gay/race issues, since they loomed so large in the background (and sometimes in the foreground), but I think you handled them well. Ronon winning Rodney a panda and the ferris wheel at the end really worked for me. I'm imagining them trying to take the fluffy thing back through the gate, or Rodney trying to build a ferris wheel equivalent on Atlantis. ^_^

A great cap on a tense and moving series.

[dossier.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a marvelous story. Take a simple cliche, and turn it on its head and then imbue it with lots of lovely layers. Rodney's fury was so bright and ugly, Sheppard his usual enigmatic self until the chips were really down, and Ronon, bless him--trying to take it all in and understand. Beautiful.

[hesternic.livejournal.com]

Wow, Hth! That was absolutely beautiful!

And I must say, "Snap!" because, prompted by Shep's love of Ferris wheels, I've also written a story about Rodney and John on the midway!

In my story, the midway is part of a circus, rather than a state fair. It's called "Candy Floss". You can read it here:

http://hesternic.livejournal.com/823.html

(And yes, there are 8 thematically-related songvids embedded in that fic, because I'm an absolutely shamelessly addicted vidder. *g*)

Anyhow, I really enjoyed the carnival atmosphere you created in your story, and the wonderful interaction between John, Rodney & Ronon. (Not to mention the amazing amount of junk food you managed to have Rodney ingest in one day! LOL)

Really well done!

Cheers, Hester