Alias fic: fool me twice (1/1)

[kangeiko]

Everyone needs to be readingeliade's J/V fic. It's like crack - you have a tiny wee bit, and then just a wee bit more because you can and you're a strongperson, and then just a wee bit more for the road, and then you're frantically refreshing your flist and hoping for another installment.

Anyway. I am... not revising. I should be, but I decided to write a quick drabble. The drabble turned into a fic-let. *rolls eyes* Not beta-ed, so feel free to critique and I shall fiddle with it... later.

Feedback is very very welcome. I am trying, via drabbles and fic-lets, to get a grip on Jack's voice. He's, er, not giving it up easy.


*

title: fool me twice
summary: "Sometimes, you dream about killing Arvin Sloane." Filler for The Getaway (season 2).

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I think you've got him perfectly, Jack, that is, and the lovely twisted relationship. That is my problem with your stories in general - I can say nothing but "well done" and can't make any useful suggestions because I like them so much.


Sorry, with all respect for eliade, but there is nothing in this world or the next that will induce me to read Jack/Vaughn. a) I don't find Vaughn appealing in any way, and it took me four years on the show to find him interesting, and b) for a pairing to work for me, I need some sign on the actual text that the two have at least an interest in each other (and I don't mean a sexual one, I mean an interest as people - can be hostile, can be friendly, there just has to be something). I could see Jack/Marshall or Jack/Dixon eons before I could see Jack/Vaughn. (And I don't think either is anywhere near likely.)

SQUEEEE!

[kangeiko]

A fabulous, fabulous package arrived this morning, thank you thank you thank you! *bounce bounce bounce* You do know that there's just no chance that I'm going to spend the remainder of the weekend revising refugee women, right? *bounce some more*

I think you've got him perfectly, Jack, that is, and the lovely twisted relationship. That is my problem with your stories in general - I can say nothing but "well done" and can't make any useful suggestions because I like them so much.

Thankee. I haven't really written him before, and I am resorting on my usual crutch of oxygen deprivation/alcohol/drugs/otherwise impaired POV. It, er, it's becoming a larger crutch with each passing fic. I'm glad that it's working thus far, but one of these days I'm gonna write some fic where all the characters are in their right minds...

Sorry, with all respect for eliade, but there is nothing in this world or the next that will induce me to read Jack/Vaughn. a) I don't find Vaughn appealing in any way, and it took me four years on the show to find him interesting,

Ah, see, I don't fin Vaughn appealing either, but the vast majority of what eliade is writing is from vaughn's POV. That results in a lot of Jack!impressions and a fair bit of awe, which I can buy. Jack!worship is something I can completely relate to. :)

OTOH, I do see your point:

b) for a pairing to work for me, I need some sign on the actual text that the two have at least an interest in each other

That's my major problem with the pairing: I can't get a grip on Jack's thoughts during this process. eliade has managed to sidestep this very neatly by having the charaters interact in a professional capaity first and foremost, which allows Jack to function within his own comfort level (even if that includes sex with Vaughn while his daughter listens) - if it's for or during a mission, it can be done. It's seeing Jack interact or take an interest in Vaughn outside of those narrow confines that I have trouble with.

Either

1) Jack will develop a personal interest that wasn't there in the show - which will take a great deal of background exposition, character building, etc etc - OR
2) Jack will simply acquiesce and Vaughn will never know why.

That's the bit that I like about eliade's fics - staying within Vaughn's POV gives you Jack!worship but it also guarantees that the reader will never understand his motivation. Even in her sweetest of sweet endings, it wouldn't surprise me overly much if (in my imaginary mental coda) Vaughn gets sacrificed further down the line to save Sydney's life, and the entire thing was a complex game tree spun out in Jack's head.

That said, it is also very very frustrating to not know what Jack thinks. I mean, JJ does a good enough job of messing with our heads on that score!

It's odd. I've read fic where Jack gets to have sex with a great variety of people... but never from his POV. It either stops before the sex, or the POV changes. Sloane, Vaughn, Irina, random female character - none of them stay in Jack's head during sex.

It's almost like a challenge, isn't it. :)

Re: SQUEEEE!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Good to know the package arrived.*g* Refugee women are a noble cause, but so is watching the Jack 'n Arvin show...

That said, it is also very very frustrating to not know what Jack thinks. I mean, JJ does a good enough job of messing with our heads on that score!

True.*g* Though that makes the rare revelation scenes all the better. And we do get enough on how he feels about his three major relationships on the show (with Sydney, with Irina and with Sloane) to make up our minds there.

Question: if this is Vaughn pov, thereby circumventing the necessity of why the hell Jack would be interested, what's Vaughn's justification? I mean, canon Vaughn gives the impression of being somewhat in awe of Jack and wanting Jack to like him because Jack is Sydney's father, but that's about it. The only time I've seen him express a not-Sydney-related feeling in regards to Jack was in a fourth season episode (the one where our icons are from, btw) where Vaughn says one thing, Sloane says another, and Jack believes Sloane, resulting in young Michael being upset and shouting "proof? didn't you hear what I said? what the hell did Sloane say to you?"

(Now if you want someone who canonically fanboys Jack as Jack, not just Sydney's father, then look at Marshall. In season 4, he even asks Jack to marry him. I kid you not.)

I've read fic where Jack gets to have sex with a great variety of people... but never from his POV. It either stops before the sex, or the POV changes. Sloane, Vaughn, Irina, random female character - none of them stay in Jack's head during sex.

The obvious explanation is that Jack is the one the writer finds attractive and thus wants to describe during sex...

Re: SQUEEEE! - Part 1

[kangeiko]

Good to know the package arrived.*g* Refugee women are a noble cause, but so is watching the Jack 'n Arvin show...

I'm thinking that, seeing as I read many cases today, I can treat myself to an episode tonight. *glow*

Question: if this is Vaughn pov, thereby circumventing the necessity of why the hell Jack would be interested, what's Vaughn's justification?

Bear in mind that this is season 1+2 worth of opinions, so it's bound to be a little... off.

My understanding of canon!Vaughn thus far has been that he's a little in awe of Jack, professionally as well as personally. I mean, Jack comes off as a cold-blooded SOB in most of his early scenes with Vaughn (except where he perceives Vaughn as a threat and nearly shoots him in the head) yet somehow managed to sustain relationships with people as different and as difficult as Sydney, Irina and Sloane. Vaughn doesn't really get to see much of Jack's interactions with these key people, so the entire thing must remain a bit of a mystery.

It was really the Season 2 finale that made me think of things in non-Sydney related terms. Vaughn went off and got married. He buggered off most spectacularly from the CIA and his entire life. And, although Sydney drags him back into it, their relationship can't the same as it was before (especially given that he up and wed). eliade gives Sydney a non-agent boyfriend called Russ that neatly removes Sydney from the picture: no chance of ever getting back together with her. I'm unsure as to the exact timing of the fics, but I'd say that they are sometime in Season 3, as Sloane is still a baddie and Dixon is running the CIA ops. I'm not sure where Lauren is during this (I think she may have been written out in a post-S2 revision?), but Vaughn is starting from a position of 1) not married, and 2) not with Sydney. Will spectacularly never be with Sydney (and, actually, that's pretty important for his character development as he embarks on a relationship with Jack).

Given that Vaughn must feel respect/awe/pant-wetting horror at the thought of crossing him Jack (and given that his previous attachment has been thoroughly written out), shoving the two of them together on a mission is still incredibly awkward to begin with. Vaughn isn't comfortable with Jack. He doesn't think that Jack wouldn't sacrifice him in the game. But, of course, Jack wouldn't do that (for Sydney's sake, and, well, because Vaughn hasn't really done anything other than be mildly annoying) unless he has to. So Vaughn overcompensates in prepping himself to be sacrificed, and Jack... doesn't. The low expectations play out quite nicely in making Vaughn be continually surprised that he's not dead yet... and that Jack respects his skills enough to keep them both in cover whilst doing something that is contrary to both of them.

Once you'd shoved the characters together in the "must have sex for the sake of the mission or die" scenario, I'd argue that, well, who wouldn't be impressed with Jack's skill? (In my head, he's not deficient in any way shape or form. So there.) And you don't want to be thinking of Sydney while you're having sex with Sydney's father. So you concentrate on the mission and on the respect you feel for Jack - who's really a bit too good at this for it to just be something he's learnt just now - and you nark at him to let off steam. And he doesn't shoot you in the head, but instead snipes back. Because, really, sarcasm is the ultimate intimacy in the Bristow household.

So, yes. Going back to my earlier declaration - Vaughn doesn't ever know why Jack's sticking around. He's... confused. He likes Jack (no grand declarations of love post-coitus, just a surrender of the bedsheets in recognition of the higher ground), respects him, enjoys the sex, is trying to move on from Sydney and think of her in a non-sexual way, and well, Jack likes him enough to be sarky in the shower. What more could you ask for?

cont. in part 2

Re: SQUEEEE! - Part 2

[kangeiko]

Plus, did I mention that this is Jack? I see goodly appeal in our Mr Bristow. It's natural for everyone else to see it too. In fact, I'd be more surprised if it had never occured to Vaughn mid-coitus that Jack's actually rather scrumptious. (Now look back at the list of people Jack has been intimate with. I'd be honoured and scared shitless - aaaargh, what if one of them came after me with a toothpick? Or a piece of piano wire? - and so would Vaughn. No one wants Irina Derevko or her sisters pissed off at them.)

*pant pant*

Which just translates to: because Jack's yummy. And also hot.

"proof? didn't you hear what I said? what the hell did Sloane say to you?"

Don't dangle tempting emotional scenes in front of me, missy, I am strong and will not yield and...

Oh, bugger, I'll just load the DVD, shall I?

(Now if you want someone who canonically fanboys Jack as Jack, not just Sydney's father, then look at Marshall. In season 4, he even asks Jack to marry him. I kid you not.)

Now I need some Marshall POV Jack!worship.

Actually, I'd like some Marshall fic, full stop. The boy doesn't get nearly enough fic time and it's a crying shame. He's lovely.

The obvious explanation is that Jack is the one the writer finds attractive and thus wants to describe during sex...

Which makes sense to me, but the majority of the world, being lookist, would focus on Mr Vaughn...

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Oh, OH--this is outstanding. Your Jack voice, the maelstrom of his emotions for Arvin Sloane are utterly captivating, and I am in awe of your imagery and style-- staccato, distinctly Jack Bristow, the element of repetition not slowing down or cheapening the story but enhancing its power.

Thank you.

[kangeiko]

Thank you, I'd glad you liked it! I have a weakness for impaired!POV fics... let's you mess with their heads more easily, yeah? :)

the element of repetition not slowing down or cheapening the story but enhancing its power.

You know, when you wrote that I had no what you meant. I went to reread it... OMG, I see what you mean about an element of repetition! *palmface* It's like... you write it at 3am and it shows. Your brain turns off and you have to keep reminding yourself of words in order to stick all the necessary nouns in there to make a sentence.

I suspect that this is why I end up writing so many impaired!POV fics... *lightbulb*

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Hee--hey, more power to you; if you can write excellent, perfectly skewed pieces by instinctively utilising writing tools in such a state, you have my deepest respect.

Awesome icon, by the way.

[kangeiko]

Hee--hey, more power to you; if you can write excellent, perfectly skewed pieces by instinctively utilising writing tools in such a state, you have my deepest respect.

*giggle* Yes, the secret weapons in my arsenal are drugs and insomnia. *g* In many respects I'm like a French painter.

Only not French.

Or a painter.

Awesome icon, by the way.

Thank you, it was made by yodaamidala. :)

[eirena.livejournal.com]

You don't know me, but I came here via a link in Selenak's LJ, and I'm very glad that I did. That was utterly phenomenal and wonderfully, wonderfully twisted. I'm adding it to my list of Alias fic recs and will be linking in /my/ livejournal, because I know some people, too, who will enjoy this as much as I did.

Fabulous Jack point-of-view, lovely use of ambiguity and a wonderfully creepy Sloane.

Kudos.

[kangeiko]

I'm adding it to my list of Alias fic recs and will be linking in /my/ livejournal, because I know some people, too, who will enjoy this as much as I did.

Thank you very much for rec and for the lovely feedback, I am so glad that you enjoyed it!