Bullets by the Door, Open

[walkingshadow.livejournal.com]

My rec table.

Claim: Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard
Title: Bullets by the Door
Author: nifra_idril
Characters: John Sheppard.
Prompt: 7. Love.
Rating: PG-13.
Length: medium (2,468 words)
Brief summary: John falls in love with Afghanistan. Beautiful, vivid story about John finding the place, about estrangement and devotion and figuring out the only things that matter.

Afghanistan is fucking beautiful.

It's nothing like the warm pastels of his mother's living room, the cold glass of his father's office, or even the too bright colors of Jessica's apartment -- it's more alive than that, more alive than the green trees, the pale sand he remembers from home. Sweat trickles down the back of his neck, through his hair, past his helmet. Afghanistan's hotter than any desert in America, more alive. A guy behind them in the formation makes a crack about sunbathing, and John laughs out loud, startles his co-pilot into laughing.

"You're in a fucking good mood, Shepperd," says the co-pilot, and John doesn't even know his fucking name - could be anything. "We could all die today," the guy continues, and beneath them a red mountain pushes up on the side of the thin orange road the HumVees are crawling over.

"Yeah, well," John tells him. "Good day to die as any."

Link to the story: Bullets by the Door

+

Claim: Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard
Title: Open
Author: Torch, aka flambeau
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay.
Prompt: 18. Light.
Rating: PG.
Length: medium (1,883 words)
Brief summary: John demonstrates the purity of the team's intentions; Rodney bears witness.

The alazen stared at Sheppard, and Sheppard's blindfolded eyes stared back. After a while, Sheppard's grip loosened, and the alazen lowered his hand and spoke again, ending with a commanding gesture that was wasted on Sheppard but made Rodney scowl and tilt his head back. A stone half buried in the grass was digging into his hip.

Sheppard stepped in close to the tree and turned, pressing his back against the tree trunk. He held his arms out from his sides and pressed his palms against the bark as well. The alazen nodded and walked away. Sheppard stood alone by the tree, naked, under the flat grey sky. Rodney wanted to look away, but he couldn't look at Teyla and Ford, either.

Link to the story: Open