Changeling: Chapter 4

[randomweaving]

Fic: Changeling
Characters: John Dorian/Perry Cox
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Chapter Rating: PG
Description: This is a wildly AU story with fantastical elements based on thuri's Nano writing project. It begins late in season three, before Carla and Turk's wedding, and from there follows the characters as they face the Change, a strange, magical phenomenon that is turning ordinary humans into half-human creatures from fantasy.
Chapter Notes: Sorry this chapter is so short and uneventful. There wasn't a good break for quite a while after it, and we're trying to keep the chapters 15 pages or less (if we'd broken at the next natural spot, it would have been over 21 pages long). I promise things will pick up soon, though! :)

Chapter listings: Contents Post


JD'd gotten Carla to calm down, but it had taken some time. Eventually, though, she'd handed him over to Turk, which was somehow even more difficult; his best friend was quiet, but JD could hear the remembered pain and worry in his voice, and it made him feel terrible. In the end, he'd just confessed to the Change.

"You... you what?" Turk had said, voice rising a little in disbelief.

"Yeah," JD replied. "I've got wings. Honest to God, angel-with-a-harp-and-a-halo wings. Crazy, huh?"

A moment of silence, then, "Dude--just a little!" Turk's voice softened. "I see why you hid, but man, I do wish you'd felt okay coming to us. It's not like we'd've turned you in to Ripley's or anything."

JD sighed. "I know, man. I'm sorry. I just got freaked, I guess."

"Can't fault you there. Look, we're not going to tell anyone. And if there's anything we can do to help..."

JD swallowed, surprised at how choked up the simple statement made him feel. "Thanks, man. And... tell Elliot, I guess. I don't want her to worry. But no one else."

"Hey, don't worry, buddy. Carla can keep a secret when it really counts."

JD grinned, then giggled when he heard Carla yelling at Turk in the background, and Turk's harried response: "Baby, I didn't mean anything by it--well, you do gossip! Uh, JD, I have to go."

"Sounds like it," JD laughed. "Talk to you later."

"Bye. Take care."

JD flipped the phone closed, still giggling. Perry, sitting across from him, felt the corner of his lip tugging upwards--it was nice to see JD feeling more cheerful. Honestly, he wished the kid had realized sooner that he didn't have to face this sort of thing alone. Surely by now he trusted them?

Only then did it occur to him to think it odd that JD had come to him first, not Turk.

JD looked up, noting the way Perry's eyebrows had drawn themselves together, and the way his eyes were half-hooded in that certain way he had when he was working through something in his head. "What?" he asked, feeling oddly shy. He still couldn't quite believe he'd broken down so completely, and all but thrown himself into Perry's arms, when the older man had offered them.

"Can't figure you out, Newbie," Perry replied, looking him over, expression not changing much. "You and Gandhi spend your lives joined at the hip...and you didn't go to him about this."

JD opened his mouth, and then closed it again, face turning thoughtful. "I didn't even think to," he admitted slowly. "It got to the point where I couldn't hide them at home, and I ran." He fell silent again, looking down at his hands, trying to ignore the headache behind his eyes. "Turk and Carla would've tried to help me," he said suddenly, as if Perry had said they wouldn't, though he hadn't spoken. "They would've done everything they could..." But he hadn't even given them the chance. And really, the only one he'd thought of going to, in those dark days alone in the hotel, had been Perry.

"They would have," Perry agreed, still watching him. "But you came to me."

JD sighed. "Yeah, I did. I...I love Turk; he's my best friend. We're like brothers and Carla's the older sister I never had. But I guess I...I trust you more, with serious shit." He smiled wryly. "You don't have to tell them that, though."

"Nah, it makes sense," Perry said, shrugging. "I mean, when you're in serious trouble, you don't run to your brother or your sister, do you? You run to Daddy."

"Ugh. Not my dad. He was useless, anyway, the last person I'd trust with something serious. And anyway, I don't..." JD shook his head, shrugging a little and wincing when it moved his wing. "I don't think of you like that, at all. I mean, sure, you're a little older than me, and maybe there was a little bit of that, just at first. But not now. I look up to you, Perry, but you're not really a father figure to me. Sorry," he added, wondering if that was a disappointment to the other man.

Perry shrugged. "No skin off my nose, Ginger," he said with a grin.

JD smiled back, and soon a companionable silence settled over them. JD shifted, trying to get comfortable; his wings were making that doubly difficult now, since he could not hold the injured one in as tightly against him as he would have liked. Perry had leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes; JD found himself watching him, and the memory of seeing him strapped to his seat, bloody and unmoving, suddenly flashed before him. He swallowed audibly, fighting the panic that tried to rise within him, and shook his head sharply.

He's here, you idiot. He's fine. Calm down.

But that wasn't the problem, was it? The problem was that JD had not, until now, realized just how precarious his position was. Had not really stopped to think about what he would do, if Perry were no longer able to help him--or what he would have done, if Perry had refused to help in the first place. JD didn't see him as a father; hadn't for some time, in fact. But how he did see him was a whole lot more complicated than JD had first assumed.

His own words from before rang through his ears: "I wasn't gonna risk you dying over me. I'm not worth that."

As frightened as he'd been for his own sake this last week, he suddenly realized that, in that horrible ten minutes after the accident, he'd been far, far more frightened for Perry's.

And it didn't end there, either. JD huddled closer in on himself, biting his lip. The Change killed people. He knew that, had heard it on the news again that morning, waiting for Perry to return. People were being found in their homes, in seedy hotel rooms, marks of mutation on their skin and terror on their faces. JD wasn't sure why it hadn't killed him, but he had an idea. When the Change had taken him, he'd been scared, sure, but turning into something out of fantasy wasn't complete anathema to him. He'd spent a great deal of his life imagining he was something other than himself, after all, and fantasy was an old friend. He'd been scared of the reactions of people around him, of the danger he was in, but not of the Change itself. Not really.

But Perry? How would Perry take being turned into something else against his will? Perry, who spent so much time sculpting his body to be exactly how he wanted it. Who needed control over himself and the situations he was in. Who, for all his issues, knew himself better than anyone JD'd ever met. How would he react, if his body turned against him? And what if it was that fear, that rejection, that was what was killing people?

JD didn't even want to think about it. It was hard enough to imagine how Perry was going to deal with Jack's Change. His own...

Maybe it won't happen to everyone. Maybe he'll escape it. Maybe whatever it is will be smaller, easy on him...God, please...Even if I can't have him, no one should have to lose him. He's too good a man, please...

It took JD a long moment to realize he was praying to a God he usually wasn't sure actually existed.

* * *

Perry had nodded off by the time the truck pulled over to the side of the road behind them; JD shook him awake gently.

"Perry," he whispered. When the older man simply groaned, JD said it louder. "Perry!"

"What?" Perry's voice was grumpy; his head was killing him, and the Tylenol he'd taken earlier wasn't doing much to take the edge off.

"Is that Jordan's truck?"

Perry opened his eyes and twisted around, frowning. "Truck?"

JD shrugged. "That's what it is, and it's definitely stopping."

Perry's frown deepened. "Newbie, stay down," he said. "Do not move until I say so, got it?" If it was some well-meaning passer-by, Perry would thank him and send him along. Right now he wasn't going to let anyone get near their vehicle unless it was someone he knew he could trust.

When he climbed out of the driver's side door, however, his eyes opened wider, for it was Jordan who hopped out of the driver's side door of the beat-up old Ford, complete with attached camper.

"Since when do you own an F-150?" Perry said, skipping the preliminaries.

"It was Ben's," Jordan replied, and her voice only faltered a little on her brother's name. "He left it to Mom. I decided it might be easier to haul Birdboy around in."

"Ah. Where's Jack?"

Jordan jerked her thumb toward the truck. "Car seat in the back. Eating. Still."

Perry snorted. "That's about par for the course," he said. He saw Jordan peering over his shoulder, and glanced back to see JD peering tentatively out from the still-open driver's side door. "Come on out, Newbie," he said.

JD hesitated, but Jordan moved forward. "Come on, DJ, let's see these things," she said, impatient. "Jack's are already almost as long as his arms, and I'd like to know just how much bigger I can expect them to get."

JD snorted, but obeyed, hopping out of the battered SUV. He winced as the movement jarred his injured wing, but at Perry's nod, he stepped forward, out of the relative darkness of the shade. Gingerly, he spread his wings to their full span, wincing again as the sore muscle pulled. It was a relief for his left wing, at least. And they'd grown, still more, to a nineteen-foot span at the least. He hoped this was enough; he couldn't imagine that they wouldn't lift him, now...

Jordan's expression didn't change much, but he could see the tightening around her eyes, and pulled his wings back in with another little wince. "I don't know if they're done, yet," he offered. "They've grown since this morning..."

"Right. Well, Jack doesn't have feathers, at least. But he's going to need a bigger crib." Her voice was tight, but steady. "All right, Per, get in the truck and go check on Jack. DJ, show me what we're moving over."

JD smiled a little, guessing she was keeping Perry from hurting himself, and giving him the excuse to do what he wanted at that same time. He led her around to the back and started to help haul their various boxes into the truck bed, grinning to see the plywood platform that rested on the sides of the truck, leaving an open space above the cargo area. A sleeping bag was already on top it. Ben must've camped in the truck more than once.

They got everything from the SUV into the truck, and JD climbed carefully into the bed, pulling the sleeping bag partly around himself. He scooted up and smiled at Jack through the pass-through, reaching a hand down to lightly stroke the boy's cheek. Jack didn't let go of his bottle. "Hungry, buddy? Me too."

Perry snorted from the driver's side. "I don't know how on earth we're going to keep you two fed," he muttered, starting up the truck then glancing at Jordan, who stood next to the SUV. She'd called a tow truck as JD moved the rest of the boxes into the back of the Ford, and was going to accompany it back to the city before calling them and taking her own car out to join them in the cabin.

"Thanks, babe," Perry called, waving to her as he shifted the truck into gear and pulled back onto the road.

JD had had his doubts about Perry's fitness to drive, but was glad he'd kept them to himself. He knew he couldn't do it, not with the wings in the way, and Perry wouldn't risk Jack for anything, so he must be fine. He turned a little to watch Jordan and the SUV disappear behind them, before going back to fussing over Jack. Ever since Perry and Jordan had hired a nanny, he hadn't gotten to baby-sit nearly as much, and he missed it.

"We'll manage food, somehow. It's gotta slow down sometime, and I think Jack will be better off than me...He didn't spend a week starving." JD was so caught up in the boy, he didn't realize what he'd said aloud.

"Starving, huh Newbie?" Perry asked, raising an eyebrow.

JD flushed. "Why do you think I finally came looking for help? I hadn't eaten anything other than a couple Twix bars for a day...I didn't think I was going to last much longer, and I knew anyone taking a close look at me would know what was going on..." He pulled his hand back from playing with Jack, stretching out as much as the camper shell would let him. "And I'm eating something like five times or more as much as usual...That cuts the three weeks that starvation usually takes down by a hell of a lot." Huh. Wonder if that's why some people aren't making it...?

Perry frowned at this new information. If that were indeed the case, then it probably explained why the Change didn't happen to everyone at the same time. Quite simply, there wouldn't be enough food to feed them all. He wondered if it would effect everyone, or if there were some who were simply too old. He hadn't heard of anyone past thirty being affected--but then, it had only really begun a few weeks ago.

Or maybe it's that none of them survive long enough for the Change to really manifest itself.

Perry swallowed, glancing at JD and Jack. If that were the case... if the Change killed anyone a little older... would it kill him? If it came over him, out in the wilderness, and his body couldn't handle it, would there be anything JD could do? What about Jordan?

And... what would become of Jack?

Perry swallowed, feeling a swell of fear in his heart for his son. But then JD, who'd been making faces at the child, suddenly blew a raspberry, and Jack began to laugh hysterically, waving his feet with delight. JD's laugh echoed it, and a quick glance at the young doctor's face made some of that fear melt away.

He wouldn't just leave him. Of course he wouldn't. Newbie's a good kid, and besides, Jack adores him.

Still... he cleared his throat. "Newbie, I... I need to ask you something," he said softly.

JD heard the change in Perry's voice, and frowned, turning to look at him. Though Perry kept his eyes on the road, JD could tell he was trying to muster the courage to say whatever it was he wanted to say. That gave him pause--since when did Perry Cox not voice whatever crossed his mind?

"Yes?" he said quietly after a moment, when it was clear Perry wasn't going to speak without prompting. "What is it?"

Perry was silent for a long time, and JD returned to teasing Jack, when the child had started to fuss at him, clearly unhappy about being ignored. But finally, the older man spoke, his voice softer and more serious than JD'd thought he'd ever heard it. "If this thing... If I don't make it, I need to know you'll look out for Jack. Get him back to Jordan, make sure he's taken care of. Make sure he's safe."

JD felt his heart clench slightly, but he nodded immediately, his tone matching Perry's. "Of course. God, Perry...you don't have to worry about that. You didn't even have to ask. I'll protect him, make sure he's safe, no matter what it takes. But I won't need to," he added, turning back to the boy and making another silly face. "Because you're not going to die."

"You don't know that," Perry answered, though he'd relaxed a bit, and still more when Jack laughed again. "This thing kills, and all the Changelings I've heard of are younger..."

JD snorted. "Yeah, because we're stupid enough to go outside and get caught...Look, I don't know what's causing this, but I know what it's done to me. And my guess is that some people are dying from starvation, because they're too scared to leave their houses, and don't have enough food on hand. Some of them...Some of them are probably rejecting what's happening to them, so deeply that they cause the conflict in themselves. We've both seen what determined patients can do to themselves--in terms of both recovery and deterioration--no matter what we try to do to intervene. If that gets turned against the Change...It's no wonder they look terrified when they're found."

He hesitated, trying to shake off the mood his own words was creating, wishing again that the damn rain would go away. But he pushed away a longing for the sun and went on. "You're flexible enough that that shouldn't be a problem, and we know you're going to need to eat a mountain of food, and can prepare for it, even if it hits you out here. And I know I'm probably not your first choice, but you will have a doctor on hand," he added dryly.

Perry glanced at him, and his grin was wry. "I could do a lot worse, Newbie," he said softly. "Whatever else you may be, you're definitely not a bad doctor."

JD felt a rush of warmth fill him, and he couldn't help but smile, looking back down at Jack, who was now preoccupied with chewing on the corner of his blanket. JD raised his eyebrow. "Hungry still, are we?" He scooted back and reached for the bag behind him, where Jordan had told him he could find more formula. She was going to be bringing more to them--and Jack could eat some solid foods, thank goodness, because what she'd brought would last maybe a week. If that.

JD prepared the formula, slightly awkward on his stomach, but soon handed the bottle to Jack, who accepted it eagerly and began suckling.

"Maybe his will grow faster," JD mused aloud, "Since he's smaller, and younger. I wonder if age affects growth rate?"

"It might, depending on the proportions for a child," Perry replied, distracted from his own thoughts by the question, his mind once again working at the medical puzzle the Changelings posed. "They might stay smaller, for a bit. Can't think he'd be flying before he can walk, so they don't need to hold him yet..."

"Hmm, true..." JD frowned, as Jack wriggled, pushing against the straps to keep his back away from the car seat as much as he could. His shirt was riding up, giving JD his first glimpse of the boy's wings. "I don't think his are going to be like mine. They look more...well. Insect like, not really like a bird's at all. The framework's not all there yet, but it's nothing like mine looked at first."

JD stroked a hand lightly over Jack’s back, but didn't touch the wings, just rubbed lightly at the skin around the spot where they started. Jack pushed back against his hand, making a pleased noise and blowing a large spit bubble, before again attacking his bottle.

But JD frowned, scooting himself further up, pulling Jack's shirt up higher and taking a closer look at his back. Ridges were growing, four of them, in long parallel lines all the way down the boy's back, from the base of the wing to disappear into his diaper. And JD couldn't think what they could possibly be for. "Perry...How close are we, now?"

"About an hour," Perry responded, then glanced at JD again, frowning. "Why?"

"Jack's got...something, on his back. Ridges, kind of, going from the wings down. It doesn't look dangerous, and he's fine, but I thought you'd want to know, and if you want to stop and see for yourself..." JD wasn't about to keep anything he discovered about Jack from Perry a moment longer than he had to.

Perry bit his lip, glancing sideways, then shook his head. "No," he said. "I don't know what I could do about them anyway, not here on the side of the road, and as long as they're not bothering him...no," he said again, with more conviction this time. "Just--keep an eye on him, and if he starts acting like he's in pain, let me know?"

JD nodded immediately, feeling the same rush of pride he usually felt when Perry trusted him with something important. It was accompanied by another feeling, though--one that was more tender than any such pride he'd felt before. He knew it was because he himself cared for Jack, and would have watched out for any such sign even if Perry hadn't asked him to. It was also because he understood what trust Perry was showing in him, to have turned over the care of his son. It was one thing for Perry to ask him to be a sort of guardian in the event that Perry himself could not be, but to defer to JD's judgment when he could easily pull over the truck and see for himself?

He does trust me, JD thought, a delighted smile planting itself on his face and refusing to budge, despite their circumstances.

Jack, who had finished his second bottle, seemed perfectly content; his eyelids were drooping, and he was starting to nod. JD smiled, rubbing the child's back a little; he giggled when Jack suddenly belched.

"Count it," he said automatically, then grinned when Perry nodded curtly.

"That's my boy," he said, then gave JD a small wink. JD laughed, softly, shifting again to settle in for the rest of their long drive.

* * *

Next Chapter

* * *

Comments

cute cute cute omg CUTE

[meghanthepagan.livejournal.com]

I am dieing from the cuteness, I can see where this fic might sprout wings and do its own thing (har har har) I keep picturing JD teaching Jack to fly, HA.

hehehe I love it when you post, my world goes all happy! I love yous guys. Your words are so easy to illustrate in the mind's eye. Yet there is nothing easy about this story!

You pull it of wonderously!

~Merg

Re: cute cute cute omg CUTE

[thuriweaver]

JD and Jack together are a dangerously adorable combination, aren't they? Perry doesn't stand a chance...

And I'm so glad our world is easy for you to "see." I know that can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of fantasy stories.

[patheticinvader.livejournal.com]

I tried to remember that it was coming out tonight/today, and I forgot what day it was again. So, as the past 3 times you've updated, I was ECSTATIC when I saw an update. I was like, OMGZ, WHAT DAY IS IT?!

You'd think I'd be more excited about my son's birth [24 more days!], and don't get me wrong, I am, but when I see an update I freak out because I keep forgetting what days are which.

AWESOME chapter. I <3 this story more and more everytime you update. I can't wait for more.

[thuriweaver]

Congratulations on your son! (Awwww, lookit the baby!)

And I'm so very glad you get so excited, and that you're enjoying it this much.

of the awesome

[sheamackenzie.livejournal.com]

Another Change! Wicked... This is still soooo adorable. I hadn't even realized that it was late/early enough to be Sunday, but when I did realize, I pounced on my computer. I am ridiculously excited about having a new Change. I really am.

The Amazing Adventures of Birdboy and Bugboy! This week, the plucky pair duel the dastardly Dr. Changelove...

Ok, so I need sleep.


But this so made my week! Thank you!

Re: of the awesome

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

LOL! I agree with you, it's great to be fine, Dmitri!

Glad you're still enjoying it, and that you could hang tight through what has to be the most uneventful chapter in the whole thing. ;) Things will be picking up soon, though! See you Wednesday! :)

Re: of the awesome

[sheamackenzie.livejournal.com]

::sing songs:: 11 more hours...

Hm... considering I'm mooching off of the neighbors' internet by being in someone else's room, I wonder how I'll manage to see the next update in a timely manner...?

I'll think of something! Ta.

[mysticlynx.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I love Jordan's nonchalant reaction in this. Can't wait to see more of this, since you said it will definitely pick up soon. Can't help but wonder what the ridges on Jack's back are for. Will there be any other elements in the change? Like, does the change go by certain characteristics of a person or do they gain characteristics? Sorry, I probably should just wait and see, huh?

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

I love Jordan's nonchalant reaction in this.

That was thuri's work--I'd planned to make her freak, but she was aboslutely right in the way she handled it, I think. Freaking out just isn't in Jordan's chemistry!

Ah, the ridges. They shall be revealed in time! :) And as for why the Changes occur... yup, 'fraid that's a wait-and-see thing! ;)

Glad you liked it! Thanks so much for letting us know!

[hollypopuk.livejournal.com]

*dies, as usual* aww - they are so cute. Perfection as always. Cannot wait to read the next installment. Thank you both SO much. *does a fangirly dance*

[thuriweaver]

Whee, we have fangirls!

And thank you! There was a lot of the cute in this part. Action and adventure in ones to come, though. ;D

[calamitysxchild.livejournal.com]

amazing, as I expected. :) And I'm also interested in what those ridges are all about...

JD and Jack interaction is ADORABLE. I love stories with the two of them and Cox. (Still can't get used to typing Perry) And I love all the trust issues brought forth in this chapter...you did a good job with that theme.

Can't wait 'till Wednesday!

[thuriweaver]

I'm a big fan of JD and Jack interaction, and randomslasher is kind enough to let me indulge in it. So expect more.

The ridges shall be explained. Promise. ;D

[riot-fox311.livejournal.com]

Yay! This story makes my life every time I read it...(I've been re-reading between this update and the last). I'm a big old fantasy whore, so the fact that this is Scrubs and Fantasy just makes my life. Hee! I can't really think up anything more productive to say right now (I'm running off of no sleep right now. heh.) but I totally love this! Thanks so much for writing it! (And for updating regularly...)
Tootles!

Peace, Love, And Unity! Cyberia's The Place To Be!
~Emily

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

Wheee!! Saying it makes your life is definitely productive enough for us! ;)

Glad you like it!! Yeah, we're kinda fantasy whores too, which is why we decided to write this. :) And we will update again on Wednesday! :D

[purplesyringes.livejournal.com]

*happy sigh* Ah, now that's-a nice-a chapter.

Love the interaction between JD and Jack. And poor Jordan. ^^; She seems to be taking this all in stride.

OMG THE CUTE.

*wants Wednesday to get here NOW*

[thuriweaver]

Jordan is freaking on the inside, I think, but dealing with it by trying to act as if none of it phases her.

And I love writing the JD and Jack stuff. They're so adorable together!

Only 34 more hours until the next update!

[epiks13.livejournal.com]

short, but good.
*is sad that jordan is going to the cabin with them*

and dr cox cant die. if he dies, and i cry......oh man oh man. need some happy things for finals, and xmas break. lol.

this story is very distracting from real life, and it's awesome.
i can't wait till wednesday.

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

*is sad that jordan is going to the cabin with them*

Have faith, my child! This IS a slash fic, after all. ;)

dr cox cant die

*whistles innocently* I'm not saying a word. Except that. And that. And that and that and that. And that. ;)

Thanks for commenting!! See you Wednesday!

[thequetxalcoatl.livejournal.com]

oh please write more.... this story reminds me so much of "The People" books. I love it. Update... tomorrow!!!

[thuriweaver]

We update every Sunday and Wednesday, and the whole thing is actually written. It'll be 33 parts, or so, and we're currently working on the sequel.

"The People" books? I've never heard of them, tell me more?

[red-is-the-rose.livejournal.com]

aww.... baby burp!!! what does 'count it' mean?

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

It's in reference to episode 19 of season 1, "My Old Man,"--JD's father farts on their couch, and while JD is horrified, Turk just says, "Count it!" and they clink bottles of beer. :)

[vannadear.livejournal.com]

Hehehe Jacks a Dragon! Or a dragonfly, either way; it's uber cute how you capture JD's feelings about Perry, I was so excited when I remembered it was Sunday and that there was a new installment and you guys definitly did not dissapoint! Yay for more changes and longer chapters! ::nudge nudge::

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

Hee! Glad you liked it! And yeah, as we're posting this I'm reading the next chapters, and looking at all the stuff that's going to happen, and it's like... even though I know laying this sort of relational groundwork is necessary, these chapters are BORING compared with what's to come! ;)

No fear--I think that was one of the shortest chapters. The rest should be longer, and soon enough, by jove, they'll be more eventful! :D Glad you liked!!

[wiser-9.livejournal.com]

OOOoooOOOoooh, drama and angst, I imagine?

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

You imagine correctly! :D

[wiser-9.livejournal.com]

Aw man, so much with the giddy right now. It's exactly what I needed. I can't wait for Wednesday.

[thuriweaver]

Awww, good! Giddy is a wonderful way to be, and I'm so glad we could help you get there!

<3

[katie0rotten.livejournal.com]

<3 I love you both! <3 I love coming home from a shit day of work and knowing that a nice little updatey is waiting for me! I can't wait to see where this goes! *waits anxiously for the smut* :)

Re: <3

[thuriweaver]

Less than 24 hours to the next update, too!

And thank you so much! We're looking forward to the smut, and more action, too. Just have to do these establishing chapters first...

[drathis.livejournal.com]

Gah, just remembered the main thing I was *actually* going to say with my very first comment. On chapter 14.

'JD didn't even want to think about it. It was hard enough to imagine how Perry was going to deal with Jack's Change. His own...

Maybe it won't happen to everyone. Maybe he'll escape it. Maybe whatever it is will be smaller, easy on him...God, please...Even if I can't have him, no one should have to lose him. He's too good a man, please...'

and again with 'Perry frowned at this new information. If that were indeed the case, then it probably explained why the Change didn't happen to everyone at the same time. Quite simply, there wouldn't be enough food to feed them all. He wondered if it would effect everyone, or if there were some who were simply too old. He hadn't heard of anyone past thirty being affected--but then, it had only really begun a few weeks ago.'

I found all this to be spoilers. I know it's only speculation on behalf of the characters, but nevertheless, at this point, I was still thinking a few people in a hundred, rare phenemonen, etc. Dunno why. I think it's perhaps because how could anyone know anything at this stage?

Oh yeah, and on that note, is there going to be some explaining soon? At the leading edge of the story that is. Like, genetic or no? Because that would make Jack's little fairy wings recessive. And about the greater social status of the world? There would have to be some serious breakdowns occuring, manifested in such things as the power and phone lines going down. Once again, sorry. It's my scientific little mind. Such a attention-to-detail, realistically written story as this makes these questions bubble to the surface.

Ah, one other thing. Love how you introduced Jordan, and also her reactions. She's one of my favourite characters on the show, and a slash piece that doesn't demean her automatically wins cookies. With chocolate chip.

Cheers

Drathis

[randomslasher.livejournal.com]

We actually at one point had more of a broad intro to the story--JD talking about how he'd heard about this phenomena occuring around the world--and maybe if we'd decided to leave that in, this would've made more sense. But in terms of things falling apart... wait.

:)

By the way, you are right--it is difficult to remember the characters don't know what we know. But at this point in time, Perry knows that JD is almost completely done and Jack is just starting, so that's the staggered effect, and neither of them know whether it will happen to everyone, but it's still something they have to consider. At this point, they don't know if it's a genetic mutation, a virus, or something else.

As for explanations--I actually can't say. The Change itself was the brainchild of my partner, and the reasons for it are her domain, not mine. But as of now, seventy or eighty pages into the sequel, it's not been explained in full.

I should warn you, though, that it will be magical in nature, and not explained in terms of science, so if that will drive you crazy... I just wanted to let you know up front.

[drathis.livejournal.com]

oh, don't worry about magical in nature. I don't mind about the nature of the explanation... I do kind of hanker for there to be an explanation though, partial or full.

Are you doing the social effects at all?

But seriously, talk of a sequal maketh me giddy. Personally I think you should post this faster (*cough*), because it seems like you're both writing faster than you're posting, which is going to lead to massive backup and computers crashing all over the world, and we wouldn't want that now, would we?

[randomweaver.livejournal.com]

LOL Well, the sequel's not complete, and what we've written is still in drafting stages, so I don't think there's a terrible danger of backlog...

As for social effects, we sort of get a glimpse of that in a later chapter, but largely the impact of the Change on society as a whole doesn't happen until the second book.

[drathis.livejournal.com]

hah. You said book. I knew it.

Personally, I think you should just change all the names and stick in a tiny bit of misleading exposition, and then publish *big grin*

*flails* Backing up is so going to occur! You should post faster! Ahem. Yes.

[mistr3ssquickly.livejournal.com]

Aw, now I didn't think this was a disappointment or uneventful at all. Character definition, you need that in all the action. And you did this very, very well.

Jack reminds me of my godson, when he was that age. Almost made me tear up, what what.

Love it!

~m

[dark-samu.livejournal.com]

Jack is so adorable, and I'm glad that the three of them can go through this together. I'm a bit worried for Perry, but interested to see if it'll happen to him as well.

[pavonine.livejournal.com]

JACK IS ADORABLE.

Something I Loved: how Jack's wings might be more insect-y than avian. It's nice to Change (see? I made a funny!) things up like that. Highly intriguing story, especially given the fandom, where fantasy isn't normally an element. On to Ch. 5!