M is for Military Cover

[acarlgeek]

 Title: A Cover's Story

Author: ACarlGeek

e-mail: ACarlGeek@yahoo.com

Rating: All ages (PG-12)

Genre: Gen, Team, Jack Alpha-Bits

Category: Humor, POV, Team,

Spoilers: None

Season: Late Season 2, before "Out of Mind".

Summary: Jack gets a new hat. Told from the Very Military POV of the hat.

Warnings: A wee bit of mild profanity. Puns. Angst for garments.

Comments

[sg_betty]

Heh! It took me a few moments to accept that I was being addressed by a hat, with regular asides from the other garments, but once I got into the spirit of things, it was very good fun. Strong characterization from the hat - it's clearly a by-the-book garment! It's a good thing that the cap didn't have an opportunity to converse with Daniel's boonie. I suspect that they wouldn't have got along. ; )

[acarlgeek]

Thank, you, Betty.

You are correct, Jack's hat despises Daniel's boonie, although if I'd managed to get through to the other planets on my outline, the hat would have learned to accept Daniel himself.

I had trouble because the hat had issues with Jack's sunglasses, too, and those lizards were not on any outline. They jumped out of Jack's irreverent mouth and took over my fic for awhile. I wish I'd had time to (1) get to all the planets on the outline, (2) polish the later pages better (I think I started to lose the hat's voice when Sam and Daniel got going, I had to squelch them), and (3) have a proper beta. The story can stand though, so I'm happy for now .

Thank you for the positive feedback.

[sg_betty]

Perhaps a series is called for? You could get to the other planets, and I believe that I would really enjoy hearing what the boonie has to say... : )

[neiths_arrow]

You're killing meeeee! Argh! Oh the pun, I mean, pain.

Groaning aside, very clever piece of fic. 8-) Wonder what Cappy would think of some of the Goa'uld headgear out there.

[acarlgeek]

Thank you.

I hadn't thought about Goa'uld headgear. I have a "planet kernel" that involves Jack ducking from staff blasts, and the Cover's reaction to such a weapon. There's nothing which says those two ideas can't be combined somehow...;->.

Sorry, the fabric puns just get going and refuse to stop. For me, thinking about fabric and garment assembly is part of getting into the "mindset" of something made out of fabric. :-*

[neiths_arrow]

Ooh! I'll look forward to reading it. Though I think it will be pretty hard for you to top this story. I was a hair's breadth away from being sick because it was so brimming with puns. Okay. I'll stop there.

[acarlgeek]

Sorry about the previous/aborted response, I'm still learning this Live Journal stuff and thought your comment was in a different thread. I haven't figured out how to edit comments, (I have two comments with some errors that it says I must repair, but I can't get in there to DO it).

I don't know when I'll get a follow-up Cover Story done. Part of me thinks it would be faster to redo THIS story and tack the rest into it as originally planned in my head, and another part just says, "Let this one stand and do the rest as a sequel". I'm not certain which would be faster.

[sg_fignewton]

Oh, totally for the win! I was grinning all along, but the real snickering started at your very military cap's absolute horror at Daniel. :) Sam's hair was pretty regulation in S1, though. It was S4 when it really got out of hand...

Definitely a worthy companion to your sweater fic! :)

[acarlgeek]

Thank you. Glad to know I actually succeeded in matching the sweater fic. :-)

In my haste and confusion yesterday, I forgot to copy the header information, placing this story as late in Season 2 as possible. Sam's hair was still regulation LENGTH that season, but it was occasionally fashionably mussed. Obviously Daniel's hair still had to be long when the Military Cover first saw him. :-) That hat must have been worn by a drill sergeant in a previous incarnation if it got so snippy because Sam had a few hairs out of place, but I felt that set me up well for the first encounter with the boonie (and the guy under it). :-)

[samantilles]

I loved the part where the rest of the uniforms teased the hat about being quarantined and incinerated, which is sadly probably pretty true... for a moment there when Jack handed over the hat to the biohazard bag I thought the hat was done for!!! The fact I was feeling for a hat only emphasizes your wonderful writing skills!
(and I'm totally in the mood to pull out one of my old baseball caps, squeeze the rim, and tuck my hair up in it!

[acarlgeek]

Thank you!

The final paragraphs got very little polishing, and since *I* knew the hat was headed for the labs and decontamination, I didn't go over it enough times to realize I'd set that plot key 'way back in the build-up. I was more concerned about the reference to suffocation being too graphic for comfort. Good catch on my 'foreshadowing'!! :-)

As long as your baseball cap doesn't mind having its brim squeezed, go right ahead! :-)

[suzannemarie]

This was such a fun read! By the time I'd finished reading it yesterday, it had lifted my whole mood. :)