no_takebacks | Daily Pilots Post

dramaturgca.livejournal.com posting in

Hello! Me, again! (I know, you're really tired of me. But TOO BAD!)

First off, a quick reminder! The Where on Galactica drabbleathon is awaiting your wacky ideas about where pilots can do the nasty on Galactica! Sign up! Tell your friends! Post on Wednesday! It'll be fun!

Second, topic du jour!
There's a fair amount in our little corner of fandom dealing with Colonial Fleet Academy/Flight School. What are your thoughts about our pilots meeting as cadets? Do you have favourite fics/ideas about that early part of their lives? Do you favour the idea that Kara was a hellraiser and Lee had a giant stick up his ass, or do you think our CAG was looser than that? The Academy. Discuss.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

I have this theory that Lee and Kara were supposed to meet at the Academy... and have this amazing, epic life together. But in the actual BSG universe, RDM is the higher power, and he used a variety of convoluted plot devices to keep them apart. Our job, as fic writers, is to unravel the universes beyond the original one, to discover - TA DA! - all of those universes that are out there.

I know I've read others that I enjoyed, but some particular faves of mine are:

taragel's Academy Pilots Series: http://taragel.livejournal.com/69923.html
This fic is AMAZING!!!!

Maevenly's three part Academy Series:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3197650/1/Academy_Days_The_Burn

(And, of course, my own :>)

From:

callmeonetrack.livejournal.com

Aw thank you girl. ;)

From:

kag523.livejournal.com

Your Academy Pilots are AU canon as far as I'm concerned. (And hot???? OMG Tara... it takes a lot to make me blush, but there were a few scenes in that series. WOW.)

From:

callmeonetrack.livejournal.com

Hehe. Well it was called the "Just Sex" series at first. ;) Ch 4. and 5 are pretty steamy for sure.

From:

callmeonetrack.livejournal.com

I strangely adore Academy fic (I say strangely, because I'm otherwise--or at least used to be--kind of a canon whore and find it really really hard to believe that if Kara met/knew Lee before Zak they wouldn't have made it work somehow). It's just such a less bleak time and my Kara wasn't so tortured then I think. I think Lee was a good student and relatively controlled--just as he is on galactica, but that Kara would tease the bejesus out of him and get him into trouble.

Simulations by Daphnaea is one of my all-time favorites. But I recced a ton of pre-mini fic here (http://taragel.livejournal.com/9505.html#cutid1).

Edited Date: 2010-08-23 03:49 pm (UTC)

From:

jeeshee.livejournal.com

I know it's an oft-recced classic, but Decline and Fall by elzed (http://elzed.livejournal.com/94052.html) and its remix Circumstance by elly427 (http://elly427.livejournal.com/157828.html) are amazing.

I love academy fic mainly because, as taragel says, it's a little less angsty, although foreshadowing can work really well. I like things that deal with the Kara/Zak/Lee triangle (frak canon) and Kara/Helo friendship (or more).

From:

rachelindeed.livejournal.com

I have so much love for Academy fics ~ it took me a while to realize this, but I think they're my very favorite kind of Kara/Lee story. I just really, really love watching the two of them meet and get to know each other. Academy stories are bittersweet, they're heartbreaking, and some of them even go AU and let our two heroes work things out, and somehow that's the most convincing AU for them I can imagine. Because they *were* right for each other, and if they'd met at the right time I think it would have changed so much for them. I think at that moment in her life Kara was finding herself and starting to escape her past and she might just have been ready to give herself a chance at happiness with less of the self-loathing, guilt, and fear that kept sabotaging her post-Zak relationships.

My personal favorites are so well-known that they really don't need to be recced, but this gives me an excuse to gush about them.

Polish the Stars (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3539249/1/bPolish_b_the_bStars_b) by shuchong -- Quite simply one of the most fun and poignant Lee voices ever; in this story he is studying to be an Academic historian, and his fascination with observing and analyzing the people around him leads him into wry contemplation of Kara Thrace. She quickly manages to make him lose his sense of perspective, and the love, the friendship, and even the horrible mistakes he makes with her are just fantastic. I *love* historian Lee, and I love the way Kara's amazing, prickly, vibrant fragility comes through in this fic. They are both irresistable.

One Taste of the Apple (http://brynnmck.livejournal.com/32749.html) by brynnmck -- Kara at her most heartbreaking; it's such a real friendship, and it hurts every time to see her decide that Lee is unattainable when he's waiting right there at her fingertips.

Thy Delicious Notes (http://community.livejournal.com/bsg2003fics/270331.html) by spamdilemma -- This one requires some patience from us Kara/Lee shippers, because Lee is so far in the background. It's a story about Kara/Zak and an AU version of Caroline Adama (before "A Day in the Life" established her backstory). It's less an Academy fic than a fic set in an Academy universe ~ Lee knows Kara from their days in the Academy, though she is now with Zak. But seeing Kara, Zak, and Lee through a mother's perceptive eyes is amazing, and Lee absolutely breaks my heart in this story. He's so silently, hopelessly in love. It's a beautiful companion piece to Tomorrow's dust (flares into breath) (http://community.livejournal.com/bsg2003fics/285532.html).

Our Pataphysical Divigation (http://mercurial-wit.livejournal.com/34490.html#cutid1) by mercurial_wit: My favorite of their first meetings, and a lovely study of their identities, legends, and realities.

And Taragel is absolutely right about daphnaea's "Simulations" and all her other stories. They are masterful.

From:

damao2010.livejournal.com

One of my favorite pre-mini stories is not exactly Academy fic but Kara is teaching at the Academy. I really love it because Lee and Kara do meet before the attacks, they are both less angsty and scarred by life, but still very recognizable as the troubled individuals they were. What I really love about it is the instant connection and uncontrollable attraction they experienced the very first time they met. It reminded of what the flashbacks in Daybreak tried to convey, but without any guilt-betrayal issues because there's no Zac in the picture. And the sex part is really hot, as well. hehehe It's Contraventions (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3056473/1/Contraventions) by LedaTreize, already a BSG classic, always worth a reread.

From:

ddt73.livejournal.com

One that I liked was It Shouldn't be Easy.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5577524/1/It_Shouldnt_Be_Easy

Do I think Lee had a giant stick up his ass or Kara was a hell raiser?

I don't like it when authors over play Lee being uptight and Kara being a free spirit. Cause I think our pilots are more complicated then that. When you go through the series, there are times where Kara has been the tight ass, and Lee the one who was reckless. Look at 33 for example where Kara gives Lee shit for telling the pilots good luck. Or when Lee wanted to try and get Helo & Tyrol out of the brig in Res Ship 1, but she told him there's nothing they can do. She had to reel him back. Speaking of the Peggy arc, he's the one who told Kara to go take pics of Res Ship. Also it is Kara who understood what Cain was trying to do, so she does understand the need to make hard decisions.

Anyway I hate it when Lee is played too much of a straight arrow, or Kara is played too wild most of the time.

I've always felt Lee and Kara are more alike then they are different. Lee tends to be more responsible and Kara tends to be more reckless, but they have been known to be the opposite too. Both have done more then their share of crazy things, I don't think any other pilot is close in the insane dept to these two, but yet both are also very capable leaders.

So it's okay to play a little with the stick up his ass and play Kara as the spitfire. It's just not good when those cards are played too much. It's okay for Kara to follow a rule she doesn't like once in awhile and for Lee to do something crazy now and again.