WIP Snippet for Gen Fic Day: Triptych

[fignewton]

I said I'd post something gennish today, but as Sunday is a regular workday for me, there wasn't much time. (I also spent copious amounts of fandom time squeeing and reading everyone else's offerings!) So in honor of Gen Fic Day - and thanks to moonshayde for the name! -  here's a bit from my oldest WIP. It's my first SG-1 fic, in fact, which still is nowhere near being finished! If you don't care about the storyline, just skip down to the second LJ cut.

The story itself is more or less plotless. :) It's a crossover between SG-1 and Lois and Clark, the fandom by which I was first introduced to SG-1. In reality, it's a shameless attempt to have Daniel and Clark meet and strike up a friendship. Because two orphans who speak multiple languages and journey away from their birth planets to marry their true loves and manage to save the world on a regular basis have absolutely nothing in common. :)

Triptych covers three occasions when Daniel and Clark meet: in the Yucatan, just as Daniel successfully delivers his first baby; in Kansas on Route 55 in 1969, when Clark is a three-year-old child; and in 2001, during the three month period that Jack was trapped on Edora, and Daniel has taken some of his desperation and channeled it into what Michael Shanks infamously suggested is Daniel's regular nighttime hobby.

The snippet below is about a third of the way into meeting number three. I think. It's still very much a WIP, and might change quite a bit by the time it gets finished. If it ever does.

He paused for a moment, considering his next move. It was tempting, but…

 

He looked at the superhero again, assessing the planes of that face, the liquid sheen of those steady brown eyes. He remembered the animated discussions he’d had with Teal’c, analyzing what the world knew of Kryptonian physiology and how those alien abilities might fit with what they knew of the System Lords’ manipulations of human genetics. He remembered sitting with Sam in the control room, armed with archived copies of Lois Lane’s articles from the Daily Planet; they’d been trying to cull enough information from the articles to determine the spatial coordinates for the destroyed planet of Krypton, so they could look for a match from gate addresses in the Abydonian cartouche. And with an all-too familiar pang, he remembered the night after Lya had rescued the Tollans, when the whole team had gathered at Jack’s house to celebrate, and Jack had mentioned that an offshoot branch of the NID had gone after Superman, too. All aliens, it seemed, were suspect.

 

Then he blinked away those thoughts, remembering instead the small, laughing child on sturdy legs on Route 55 both one and thirty years ago, and the young man in search of something from ten years before, who had conversed in perfect Spanish when they’d met by the local midwife’s hut before he’d joined Daniel at the dig in the Yucatan.

 

He’d quite liked Clark Kent.

 

Well. Jack would laugh in his face if he was here to see that Daniel was afraid to test one of his greater leaps of logic.

 

If Jack was here.

 

Into the breach, then. But be fair about it, and offer the man the choice of acknowledging the truth or not. After all, Daniel thought wryly, he knew all too well what it meant to have secrets to keep.

 

"Do you have an urgent need to, ah, rush off at the moment?" he asked carefully.

 

Clark frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

 

"Any emergencies that need attending?"

 

Clark raised his eyebrows, then shut his eyes for a moment to wholly focus his super-hearing. His powers had always seemed to be hardwired to some kind of instinctive red-alert wavelength; a cry of "Superman, help!" could cut across distance and noise with surprising intensity. He didn't often have to seriously concentrate to find someone who needed him. Now, though, he made that deliberate effort, and was pleased to find that in this corner of the world, at least, things were temporarily calm and quiet.

 

"It seems peaceful at the moment," he replied, opening his eyes. "Why?"

 

Daniel let out a deep breath and took the plunge. "I thought you might want to change into civvies and join me for a cup of coffee at my place." Then he added in Spanish, "I don't have any Jamaican Red at the moment, but Sumatra Mandheling is pretty good."

 

Clark blinked.

 

"Jamaican Red…?"

 

His mind flashed back a decade to his travels before he'd arrived in Metropolis. To the slightly surreal experience of an archeological dig, and the young archeologist whose eyes had gleamed with fascination at the idea of touching history. To the sharp scent of cheap coffee curling out of a small pot, and the wistful observation of how expensive it was to be a coffee snob… and a quick side trip to procure some good-quality beans as a good-bye present for the man who had unknowingly encouraged him.

 

But this black-clad vigilante couldn't be Daniel Jackson!

 

“I tried to get in touch with you a few years ago,” he said levelly. “You were dead.”

 

Daniel took the unspoken admission in stride. “Really? Why?”

 

“There were some artifacts from Ireland that I thought you could –” Clark cut himself off. “That’s not the point.” He stared directly at Daniel, and he was definitely using his X-ray vision to see the man now. The hair was darker and shorter, the jaw and cheekbones more defined by age, but it was unquestionably Daniel Jackson.

 

“You were dead,” he repeated.

 

Daniel smiled slightly and gave a half-shrug. “Yeah. I get that a lot.”


And yes, the Superman of Lois and Clark had brown eyes, not blue ones. Clark was played by Dean Cain, who is part Japanese. Many fanboys never, ever got over that. :)

Comments

[redbyrd-sgfic.livejournal.com]

Oh fun! I hope you finish it, I'd like to read it all. *g*

[rigel-7.livejournal.com]

Ooooh! Crossover fic!

This was a fantastic snippet that has whetted my appetite for more. :D

Even though I'm not particularly au fait with Superman canon, I can still recognise lots of the references you make here.

And the idea of Clark and Daniel meeting is intriguing - because, as you say, they're so alike it's almost uncanny!

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Would shameless begging help motivate you to complete this? 'Cause I'm more than happy to oblige, if it would.

(I had absolutely no idea Dean Cain is part Japanese. Learn something new every day!)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

I will finish it! Eventually. It's not tucked away as much as just... stalled. It's not as if I have any experience in the Yucatan. Or with ninjas. Or with Route 55, even. So a lot of somewhat daunting research, and slooooow going.

But I'm glad you like this bit, at least! :)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Some of the references are general Superman canon, but some of it is specifically geared to Lois and Clark canon, so unless you know the show... ::shrugs:: Sooo much better than Smallville. :)

And yes, they are so much alike! And the scene in Daniel's apartment in FIAD when he's wearing his Cream Existential Sweater (tm)? When he's shaking hands with Jack, he looks so much like Chris Reeve's Clark Kent that it's positively spooky.

Glad the snippet worked for you! :)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks for the encouragement! And yes, this will be finished - some day. Not this calendar year, though.

Cain is one quarter Japanese - his birth name is Takana, I believe. He's six feet flat, which is another reason the fanboys despised Lois and Clark on sight. :)

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Interesting L&C factoids - thanks! As long as the fangirls know how to appreciate him... :)

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

My Superman canon is spotty but...eeee!

“You were dead,” he repeated.

Daniel smiled slightly and gave a half-shrug. “Yeah. I get that a lot.”

So true and perfect.

I'd love to see where this goes when you finish.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Not Superman! LnC! Shame on you. :)

And yes, by S3 Daniel is definitely unfazed by the "being reported dead" thing.

I repeat my initial warning: it's plotless. It's just an excuse to bring two marvelous characters together and have them strike up a friendship.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

But...Clark is Superman....augh. Are different Superman canons different? Like...the comics(*is clueless*) and the movies(*squees*) and LnC(*is almost clueless*) and the old Superboy tv show(*is mostly clueless*) and Smallville(*shudders*)?

Oh, Daniel. I was explaining to a friend last night about how often Daniel has died...only not really died some of the times. I think I managed to be very confusing.

I repeat my initial warning: it's plotless. It's just an excuse to bring two marvelous characters together and have them strike up a friendship.

*nods* I've been trying for a while now to find a way to get Daniel Jackson to meet Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce. beanpot and I have decided it needs to somehow involve Walter Harriman's father/grandfather/uncle/something Walter "Radar" O'Reilly. Still working on how...

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Hoo boy yes different Superman canons are different. :)

Basic mythos facts: Lara and Jor-El sent their baby son away from their homeworld as it was dying. The baby was found by the Kents (Jonathan and Martha in nearly every incarnation) and named Clark, and raised by them with solid values and an inherent belief in Doing The Right Thing. He recognizes that he's here on Earth, with his powers, for a reason: to help others. He grows up and becomes Superman and meets his soulmate, Lois Lane. His greatest nemesis is Lex Luthor; his greatest secret weapon is probably Lois.

Smallville fails on many levels because it doesn't actually keep to the mythos. We don't get the values, we don't get the Doing The Right Thing, he doesn't see his powers as a gift and he uses his powers more selfishly than anything else. We don't have Lois as his soul mate, because Lana is supposed to be on Smallville., but we all KNOW that Superman and Lois will eventually love and marry each other as adults, so what point could Lana possibly have?

Aside from lesser details (such as whether or not Martha and Jonathan are alive, or whether he met Lex when they were younger, and so on), the biggest contrast in Superman canon is whether the disguise is Superman or Clark Kent. Until '86 in the comics, and according to the movies, Superman is the person, and Clark Kent is the disguise. From '86 in the comics until today, and in LnC, Clark Kent is the person, and Superman is the disguise. This makes a huge difference in how Clark Kent is portrayed. If Clark Kent is only a disguise, he's deliberately clumsy and timid and dorky and not always very likeable, and why is he waiting around for Lois to fall in love with the sham that's only a fraction of himself? But if Clark Kent is the real person, then Clark is the one with character and courage and humor and faults, and is much, much more interesting.

I'm an LnC fan. In case you didn't notice. :)

Regarding your own crossover: It would be hilarious if our Walter learned his sneaky superior officer training abilities from MASH's Walter, hee! But time travel is canon. I don't see what it's a problem. :)

And hey, there's this: Surreal. Bit of language warning.

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I hadn't realized that bit about Kent vs. Superman. I think I got indoctrinated by the movies first so even in the Lois and Clark I did see I still thought of Clark as the alter-ego.

Regarding your own crossover: It would be hilarious if our Walter learned his sneaky superior officer training abilities from MASH's Walter, hee! But time travel is canon. I don't see what it's a problem. :)

Oh, Walter so learned his skills from him! And, yes, time travel is canon, but I like the idea of doing it in a not-fantastical way. Hawkeye picks up Radar on a drive out to visit BJ and stops by Harriman's house on teh way and he's hosting and SGC picnic or something and Hawkeye zeroes in on Daniel - something about him clicking with Hawkeye (civilian thrust into playing soldier and all that).

Oh, yeah, definitely read Raven's piece. Which is good, but not the Daniel-Hawkeye interaction I'm craving.

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

There's a great quote that sums it up quite nicely: "Clark Kent is who I am. Superman is what I do." I love that, because while Superman is someone to admire, Clark is someone to like and care about. I think that's why LnC is probably my favorite incarnation of the mythos (and yes, I was a Superman fan first).

That idea sounds utterly charming! Except if everyone is in civvies, what exactly about Daniel is going to make Hawkeye tag him as non-military? Unless it takes place in the floppy-haired era. :) But I think slightly cynical!Daniel would get along with Hawkeye every so much better than stars in his eyes!Daniel, don't you?

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good quote. And that makes sense!
(The new Superman movie that came out, um, two summer ago I think? I went and saw it with some friends who weren't familiar with the older movies and just did not understand the cheesiness. It's part of Superman's charm!)

Honestly, I think Hawkeye might just know. Maybe I give him too much power, but I think he can be really good at reading people sometimes and can pick up Daniel looking out of place and go from there (this might work best in season 5...though Walter doesn't really become Radar-like until later)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

It's from the end of S2, one of the real fan favorite eps whose name is escaping me at the moment, even though I can lovingly describe it, scene by scene, without having seen it in years. :)

No, I think you're right about Daniel in S5, at least, being just enough out of focus for someone like Hawkeye to notice. And just because we never see Walter acting Radar-like to Hammond doesn't mean that he wasn't off-screen... :)