out of curiosity

What is your favorite word of all time, the word that fills you with bizarre, ineffable happiness whenever you get the chance to use or say it?

Mine is 'sloth,' although my favorite not-English word is Old English neorxnawong, which is the word for Paradise (as in, the Garden of Eden). Nay-orx-na-wong! Say it!

I ask this question periodically because I love words and I love it when people talk about them and enjoy them. It makes me happy and it relaxes me.

Back tonight with fic! \o/

.fic and artlink: A Face That Nobody Knows; The Price That Life Exacts

Hurray, sgabigbang is live here! As I did last year, I contributed both fic and art, the better to plague you with.

Fic

"Bud, you can't stay here all night," the waiter said to the space captain. "You got to go."

"In a minute," the space captain said. "Let me finish, okay?"

The man had been drinking the same cup of coffee for the past hour. Postum got worse the longer it sat; it must have been like drinking wheat-flavored sludge. McKay watched as the man took another sip, hoarding it for a moment before swallowing, and this time the bitterness in McKay's mouth was the unfamiliar taste of a guilty conscience. He waved the waiter over.

"Another?" Brown and bloodshot eyes peered at him incredulously as the waiter wiped his hands on the rag stuffed into his apron. "Yes, another," McKay snapped, "because why else would I summon you over? For a massage?" He set a nickel on the counter and gestured with his chin to the space captain and his cold cup of coffee, and mouthed for him in case the waiter didn't get it.

A Face That Nobody Knows (NC17) John/Rodney, ~44,000+ words | {link

Words aren't enough to describe the debt I owe to my betas, fiercelydreamed, tropes, and villainny, who not only helped with the things I knew were wrong, but pointed out things that had entirely escaped me. What is good here is all down to them; what is deficient... well, that's me. But I will say that, despite the difficulties, this was a lot of fun to write, and quite different from what I usually do, and I hope you enjoy it :)

And smooooches and mostly-naked Olympic swimmers to amberlynne, for the bamboozling.

Art
Done for cathalin's unbelievably lovely The Price That Life Exacts. I'm not linking to the art itself because it's vaguely spoilery for the story, so I'll leave the clicking up to you. But here, have a peek:



.eta: Feedback posts! They are here [for story] and here [for art]