SGA fic bunnies

[mamadeb]

Maybe if I say something here, I'll actually write them.

1. My yuletide story last year turned into a murder mystery, which I had a lot of fun writing. Wouldn't a murder mystery set in Atlantis, with Rodney and John playing off each other (Rodney's analysis and John's hunches) be really cool? Not sure I could pull it off, but it would be cool trying.

2. I have forgotten where I read this or who said it, but someone bemoaned the fact that, while there are a lot of stories about characters becoming disabled in one form or another, usually temporarily, there are very few AUs where they start out that way. (In my Sentinel AU The Measure of our Youth, I did have Blair be disabled from before the start of the story.)

So. SGA AU. Rodney is Deaf. John becomes his interpreter when his original one can't get clearance. Maybe?

Also, ideas for research?

Comments

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

IMO, it would make more sense to have Rodney's interpreter die. Anyone who's been interpreting for Rodney in the past pretty much *has* to have clearance - he's been doing classified work for quite a while before the Atlantis project. I find it much more likely that even if they had to assign a new one before they left for Pegasus, it would still be a civilian, and preferably one who is capable of comprehending at least the basics of Rodney's work. It wouldn't be John, who has a full-time military job and who got added at nearly the last minute just for having the gene. And it's certainly easy enough to kill off somebody on Atlantis.

Note: Sheppard would end up, during the course of the fic, proving to be a lot more intelligent than he normally acts. He reminds me of O'Neill in that way.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

It would have to take place on Earth. No way would they send a Deaf man to Pegasus - I couldn't make that believable.

And John *is* brilliant. That's been shown over and over again. He's just learned to, um, pass as normal. Except that he geeks out around Rodney.

[madripoor-rose.livejournal.com]

I think an Atlantis murder mystery would be very cool.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I think so, too.

[villeinage.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see Deaf!Rodney.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

His hands are already so expressive.

I picture him Signing at light speed.

[villeinage.livejournal.com]

And don't forget his face! A whole lot of meaning in ASL is conveyed through facial expression.

Hey--that would be a cool characterization point-John struggling to learn how to make his facial expressions more animated in order to be a better interpreter.

Wasn't Brooke Henson writing a couple of Deaf!Jim stories? She'd be a good go-to gal for research sources.

[vass]

Also, ideas for research?

I think there are a lot of Deaf comms on LJ where you could lurk. And YouTube has Deaf stuff. (And I just checked: there's a DeafWiki.

I bet a Deaf Rodney would be completely inseperable from his Sidekick.

ASL (and Auslan for that matter) signers do have this reputation for extreme bluntness to the point of rudeness, which sounds... familiar.

I'd find it unrealistic and problematic if John didn't already know ASL and became his interpreter. But maybe in this AU one or both of John's parents are/were Deaf? Or instead of shuttling him from military base to military base, his father'd sent him to a swanky boarding school which happened to have a large Deaf integration programme[1], and he learned the language there? But he doesn't work as an interpreter, so he's still second-best to Rodney's proper interpreter, the one who doesn't have clearance?

[1] Although my secondary school in year 7/8 had such a unit, and I never saw hide or hair of a Deaf person. I just walked past the integration manager's office on the way to my learning skills/special ed classes and my gifted classes (yep, both. I was *not* popular with the teachers whose classes I missed for that.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

DeafWiki? Perfect.

My current assumption is that he had a best friend in junior high school with a Deaf sibling, who taught all his friends Sign as a secret language, and that he kept it up for the coolness of it - and maybe did some volunteer work or Intervention work in grad school, so he also picked up the scientific signs.

But he's working for SGC as a military scientist so, yeah. (It's an AU. John couldn't be a pilot. I'm giving him glasses - Air Force pilots need 20-20.)

Ah, a member of the gifted LD club. You were very fortunate that you *could* get both sorts of help. Many people don't get either because they test out perfectly normal...

[vass]

My current assumption is that he had a best friend in junior high school with a Deaf sibling, who taught all his friends Sign as a secret language, and that he kept it up for the coolness of it - and maybe did some volunteer work or Intervention work in grad school, so he also picked up the scientific signs.

Yeah, that works - especially the volunteer or intervention stuff in grad school.

Ah, a member of the gifted LD club. You were very fortunate that you *could* get both sorts of help. Many people don't get either because they test out perfectly normal...

Yeah, I was lucky. Weirdly, I got better formal support/extension at that school than I did at my high school, which was technically *for* bright kids. (But I'm still glad I switched schools, for all sorts of reasons.)

[sorek.livejournal.com]

It's been a long time since I've read any fanfic for any series, unless you count the entire series of Enterprise as fanfic, and bad fanfic at that.

Having said that I don't think I'd like Rodney deaf. He's got too distinctive of a voice. And why pick on Rodney? All the SG-A writers pick on Rodney.

Not to mention that deathly allergic to citrus thing.

(President of the "Stop People from Picking on Rodney Society")

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Rodney uses his hands a lot, so the voice would come through, I think. Also, I have to pick on John, too, because I don't want him as a helicopter pilot, and it would take something wrong to prevent that.

You need to read rageprufrock's Hindsight (http://glitterati.talkoncorners.net/fiction/hindsight.html) and sequels - John has the medical problem.

And I don't believe in Rodney's Deathly Allergy to Citrus. I believe Rodney reacts to lemon oil, and so avoids fresh citrus. Orangene cleaners make him break out in hives. If he had a deathly allergy to a common substance, he'd never be allowed in Atlantis, either.

Which is why John is threatening him with a *lemon* - the oil is in the skin of the fruit. And it's not life-threatening, just annoying.

It's very much a best friend thing to do.

[tonicollins.livejournal.com]

Both ideas sound intriguing. Though the first image I had of Deaf!Rodney is him in mid-rant yet taking the time from signing to whack the rantee on the arm to emphasize his point. Or, reading John's lips and realizing that he's not translating verbatim - John's trying to smooth things over - and whacking him for the temerity to soften the import of Rodney's words. Yup, I envision a lot of whacking.

Could be my subconscious wanting to bitch slap my new neighbor over the falling down fence. *sigh*