cimorene

mimesere talked a bit about "sanctuary" in a friendslocked entry [*] and i went on a bit in response to her. but since i hardly ever write down my meta, i thought i'd put it down

i think attributing mckay's reaction--which is actually very logical--to romantic jealousy is kind of insulting to him. he's actually, as i recall, totally justified in all his concerns in the episode. the weird part is that they don't listen to him more.

and, well, i mainly find chaya's behaviour a little baffling. i thought stargate canon was encouraging us to believe up until that point that the ascended were incapable of caring a great deal about what happened to mortals. i could buy that perhaps it only makes emotional involvement much less likely by changing the way they experience emotion and that the change takes a while to happen after they ascend, which could explain chaya's unusual lashing out which got her sent into exile. but then i still have a hard time buying her falling in love with an ordinary (if pretty, and cute--granted) mortal at first sight.

i've read some fic that was overall pretty cracked-out but which suggested she gravitated to him because she could sense the Ancient gene, and i can buy *that*, and that her feeling's more a profound loneliness for the company of her own kind than a sudden desire to compare john to a midsummer's day.

but if ALL the ATA gene does is synthesize some proteins as they said, why would having it make such a big difference? i mean, why hasn't she ever felt she could relate to anybody without it? i mean, we ARE talking ten thousand years here. it's hard to believe she wouldn't get tempted to, uh, really make any good friends in that time, especially if the urge is really that strong. i think my best explanation is that the ATA gene is a bit more complicated than we've learned so far, even if its extra activity is limited to a few enzymes in the brain or something, and that that explains what was different with sheppard.

as for his behaviour--i thought it was remarkably naïve from the beginning of the episode, compared to the rest of his behaviour in canon. but i'd be willing to buy a spackle that involved her emitting some kind of field or something that subtly affected him.

i should probably add that i read a couple in which chaya's motives were darker and more suspect and she was, like, hypnotising him--and one memorable one in which she tried to kill him to force him to ascend (kind of a strong come-on, there). the latter was only one instance of overboardness in a story that was stretched my credibility in a lot of places (so no, not buying it). the former i can easily buy for purposes of fic--it's not that big a leap from canon--but i don't buy it as an explanation of canon.