Vacation + SGA fic rec

[schneefink]

Today I came back from a week of vacation in different parts of Austria. Sometimes I almost forget how beautiful this country is. :) I stayed first with a friend and then with my grandparents and rediscovered why I love hiking, especially when there is a beautiful view, flowers, and/or wild strawberries and blueberries. Why are all proper mountains so far away from Vienna?
Home seems much less relaxing in contrast especially when one of the first things I have to do is to de-ice our refrigerator because I was stupid enough not to close the door properly when I left. At least once LB found our good chisels the first part was almost fun.
On Sunday I'm going to youth choir week, I'm looking forward to it. With a little bit of caution because in past years while everyone was friendly there were only a few people I liked to talk with and our great choir leader isn't here this year, but I'm sure it'll be nice.

Fic Rec!
Rock Happy by ArwenLune, SGA/GK
gen, crossover with Generation Kill, 142k
I've been following this fic as a WIP for months and enjoyed every new chapter. Now it's finally finished! Wow, I hadn't noticed it had become so long, but it's completely worth it. I love this story so much I don't even know where to begin reccing it.
Summary: "You want to recruit me for what? You want me to go where?"
Sgt. Brad Colbert has been on a lot of strange missions, but this promises to be his most out there yet: Atlantis
This is not a story about falling in love. This is a story about falling in team.
This is a story about falling in team, daily life in Atlantis, and the weirdness of the Pegasus galaxy, and all three of these things are brilliantly done.
I know almost nothing about Generation Kill and treated the POV character Brad Colbert and any other GK characters (not many in the beginning) like an OC, which worked well for me. The other main characters - Captain Avery, Lt. Brittner, Dr. Fournier - are also OCs, but so well fleshed out that I'd feel more comfortable using them in fic than some canon characters. We get team building and character development, yum! And of course many appearances by characters from both canons, from the Atlantis side mostly Cadman and occasionally Dusty Mehra, Lorne, Carter, Sheppard, and others.
I love seeing this side of Atlantis that is so different from what I see in most fics. It reminded me of the best elements of Domenika Marzione's stories. But while in Domenika Marzione's stories I felt thrown into this weird mirrorverse full of competent military OCs Rock Happy introduces me to it slowly and makes it feel more real. In Rock Happy Atlantis becomes a real place people live and work in, many more people besides Sheppard's team.
We also get to see many different sides of the Pegasus galaxy! Good sides, bad sides - my favorite is the mutant kudzu planet. So often while reading this story I had "of course" moments, "I never thought of that."
It's a slow story in the sense that there's no urgent action plot and many smaller scenes, but that gives the author the opportunity to highlight character interaction and the rich setting. Have I mentioned that they do that really really well? This is one of the best new SGA stories I've read in months.

Comments

[whizzy]

Ah, I started reading that, but the problem I've found with SGA/GK crossovers is that writers tend to make Sheppard and the Atlantis folks admired and respected by the GK guys without actually working for it. And they would have to work very, very hard for it. XD

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I can't say how well the GK characters are written; if you read it I'd be curious about your opinion. I've started to think of every fic in which the SGA characters are competent as at least somewhat AU ;-) At least in this fic it's mostly minor characters and OCs..

[whizzy]

Ugh, tell me about it. I've been poking an unfinished SGA story (was probably a mistake to link it so closely to series canon) and it's driving me crazy trying to find a balance between true to the show and even halfway realistic.

[schneefink]

That does sound very difficult! If it doesn't work otherwise you could just deviate further from canon? Competent characters are one of the reasons why I enjoy your SGA stories so much :-)