What's the name of the game?
Thumper!
Um.. yeah. This is one of those tipsy posts. Prepare for gratuitous exclamation points!
Played drinking games with my sorority sisters tonight. I feel silly saying things like "sorority sisters," but that's who they are. Sistah-hood!
We inducted our little pledges tonight, and it was all wonderful even though the stupid wind kept blowing out our symbolic candles. I enjoyed being on the other side of the process this time. I also enjoyed not having to wear a blindfold. Though getting to the initiation site was actually a lot creepier this time because 1) I was alone, and 2) I could see how dark it was. Also there were weird hooting birds. Freaked me out.
Yeah, but after initiation the pledges threw us a party. Rock star theme. I said I was a goth rocker, but really I was too lazy to change out of my all-black spooky initiation garb. My buddy Lenk lent me a collar to complete the outfit. Yeah. So, I learned that 1) I have a big neck, and 2) reduced flow of oxygen = getting drunk much quicker. Took the collar off before we really started in on Thumper though. Wasn't looking forward to passing out.
Man, I love those girls though. We talked about tattoos, and linguistics, and summer camp, and gerundives, and all sorts of fun stuff. We also toasted a lot of things. A lot. Like oxygen, and women, and past participles, and Canada. I'd've stayed later, and toasted more, but I for some reason signe d up to work on a Sunday. Arranging boxes of caps & gowns. Foolish me. At least I don't have to deal with customers for that segment.
And to make this post slightly less pointless, here's a little dealie I wrote last weekend. I brought my ficcish notebook to Portland and somehow SG-1 ended up in a rainstorm. Imagine that.
(Real interplanetary explorers don't use umbrellas...)
"It's raining again," Daniel says quietly. He sounds tired but certain, resigned to a simple truth. Jack could let it slide, but resignation isn't really his thing. Of course, it isn't normally Daniel's either.
"How can you tell?"
He's not trying to be contentious. There aren't any windows in the room, and no sound or scent of rain has made it to his senses. He wants to know how Daniel knows these things, yes, but more than that he wants to get Daniel talking. He's been speaking less and less these last few days. Back home Jack would have made jokes about wishes granted, but here and now he's focusing his energy on not freaking out entirely.
Daniel hunches his shoulders in what Jack interprets as a shrug. "I don't know," he mumbles, "I could be wrong." He quiets, sinking back into himself. So much for that conversational gambit.
"Hey," Carter says, pushing aside the curtain and stepping into the low-ceilinged room. Her uniform jacket is soaked through. The dark green fabric looks black in the dim light of the small lantern. Her hair lies flat, matted to her skull. She slicks it back with her hand to keep it from dripping in her eyes.
Jack catches Daniel's gaze and raises his eyebrows. Daniel barely acknowledges the apology, twisting his mouth up briefly in a pale approximation of a smile before his eyes go distant and his attention drifts once again. Jack has to fight the urge to reach out, grab his arm, and shake him back into the present moment.
"Sir," Carter murmurs, kneeling down beside him, "Anything..." She trails off, unable or unwilling to articulate the hundreds of questions bouncing around in her skull. They're both a bit distracted, looking at Daniel. Daniel is looking at the wall with a vaguely accusatory expression. "Anything?" Her voice constricts around the word, tight with worry.
Jack shakes his head, before realizing Carter won't see the motion, focused as she is on Daniel. "No," he says quietly. He's still uncomfortable talking about Daniel like he's not even there, though Daniel himself doesn't seem to mind. Jack casts around for a less depressing subject. "You and Teal'c have any luck?"
"A bit, Sir," Carter answers. "We found a source of fresh water to the South, and filled the canteens. The rain's been steady, though, so we couldn't find much dry wood. Oh," she pauses fractionally before barrelling on, "and Teal'c caught a fish."
That draws Jack's attention. He looks carefully at Carter, checking her face to make sure she's not joking. She breathes a faint laugh at his reaction. "It's not very big, but it's something. We'll have to set up the fire in the front room. No way we can cook outside tonight." Having completed her status report Carter shifts to rise. Jack puts a hand on her knee to stop her. She freezes. Jack feels her tense up, sees something dark and shapeless flit behind her eyes. He removes the hand and uses it to lever himself up along the wall.
"You stay with him for a bit. Dry off a little," Jack tells her, "I'll help Teal'c." She nods, accepting it as an order. He tamps down the urge to remind her that the chain of command is rapidly losing all meaning. For her, it seems, it really hasn't.
"Hey, Daniel," she says gently, "How's your arm?" Jack watches her slide down the wall to settle by his side.
"Sam," he says. It's less a greeting and more a confirmation of her identity. She gets that, and nods. He looks at her, examining her face. She sketches a desperate smile, probably hoping the recognition means his condition is improving. He reaches up to touch her damp hair, smoothing a few errant strands behind her ear with a strange reverence. His fingers still when he catches sight of the bandage on his forearm. "Oh." His eyes go distant again, his brows lowering with the effort of recall, of sifting memory from... from whatever else is drifting around in his head right now.
Jack moves slowly toward the doorway, stupidly reluctant to leave. He needs to hear Daniel speaking, needs to know if he even remembers the flight from the Stargate.
"The Colonel did a pretty good job, didn't he?" Carter keeps her voice low and soothing as she gently coaxes Daniel's hand away from her hair. She skates a finger along the bandage as she sets his hand to rest on his thigh. "I bet you had no idea he could do first aid in a hailstorm."
Daniel blinks at her, then shifts his gaze to an unoccupied space in the middle of the room. Jack sighs and pushes the curtain aside before he hears Daniel's voice. "Jack," he says quietly. He's using the same tone - identification rather than direct address - but even so it's all Jack can do not to stride back over there and send Carter out to help Teal'c. With an effort he resists the urge and settles for watching Daniel stare into space.
"After we left," Daniel says slowly, deliberately, "before we were here. We... there was a rock, and my arm... I fell. I was bleeding. Jack told me..." and now suddenly Daniel's back in the room, looking Jack in the eye. Jack's never seen him like this, so grave and so... hopeless. Resignation permeates Daniel's words. "He told me to hold still. He said I should keep quiet..."
That's the most Jack's heard out of Daniel in days. Something near his ribs begins to ache dully. He turns resolutely and ducks out through the doorway. The curtain blocks his line of sight to Daniel, or it would if he were looking back to catch a glimpse. He strides out to find Teal'c, leaving behind the low murmur of Carter's voice humming in counterpoint to Daniel's stilted staccato.
Um.. yeah. This is one of those tipsy posts. Prepare for gratuitous exclamation points!
Played drinking games with my sorority sisters tonight. I feel silly saying things like "sorority sisters," but that's who they are. Sistah-hood!
We inducted our little pledges tonight, and it was all wonderful even though the stupid wind kept blowing out our symbolic candles. I enjoyed being on the other side of the process this time. I also enjoyed not having to wear a blindfold. Though getting to the initiation site was actually a lot creepier this time because 1) I was alone, and 2) I could see how dark it was. Also there were weird hooting birds. Freaked me out.
Yeah, but after initiation the pledges threw us a party. Rock star theme. I said I was a goth rocker, but really I was too lazy to change out of my all-black spooky initiation garb. My buddy Lenk lent me a collar to complete the outfit. Yeah. So, I learned that 1) I have a big neck, and 2) reduced flow of oxygen = getting drunk much quicker. Took the collar off before we really started in on Thumper though. Wasn't looking forward to passing out.
Man, I love those girls though. We talked about tattoos, and linguistics, and summer camp, and gerundives, and all sorts of fun stuff. We also toasted a lot of things. A lot. Like oxygen, and women, and past participles, and Canada. I'd've stayed later, and toasted more, but I for some reason signe d up to work on a Sunday. Arranging boxes of caps & gowns. Foolish me. At least I don't have to deal with customers for that segment.
And to make this post slightly less pointless, here's a little dealie I wrote last weekend. I brought my ficcish notebook to Portland and somehow SG-1 ended up in a rainstorm. Imagine that.
(Real interplanetary explorers don't use umbrellas...)
"It's raining again," Daniel says quietly. He sounds tired but certain, resigned to a simple truth. Jack could let it slide, but resignation isn't really his thing. Of course, it isn't normally Daniel's either.
"How can you tell?"
He's not trying to be contentious. There aren't any windows in the room, and no sound or scent of rain has made it to his senses. He wants to know how Daniel knows these things, yes, but more than that he wants to get Daniel talking. He's been speaking less and less these last few days. Back home Jack would have made jokes about wishes granted, but here and now he's focusing his energy on not freaking out entirely.
Daniel hunches his shoulders in what Jack interprets as a shrug. "I don't know," he mumbles, "I could be wrong." He quiets, sinking back into himself. So much for that conversational gambit.
"Hey," Carter says, pushing aside the curtain and stepping into the low-ceilinged room. Her uniform jacket is soaked through. The dark green fabric looks black in the dim light of the small lantern. Her hair lies flat, matted to her skull. She slicks it back with her hand to keep it from dripping in her eyes.
Jack catches Daniel's gaze and raises his eyebrows. Daniel barely acknowledges the apology, twisting his mouth up briefly in a pale approximation of a smile before his eyes go distant and his attention drifts once again. Jack has to fight the urge to reach out, grab his arm, and shake him back into the present moment.
"Sir," Carter murmurs, kneeling down beside him, "Anything..." She trails off, unable or unwilling to articulate the hundreds of questions bouncing around in her skull. They're both a bit distracted, looking at Daniel. Daniel is looking at the wall with a vaguely accusatory expression. "Anything?" Her voice constricts around the word, tight with worry.
Jack shakes his head, before realizing Carter won't see the motion, focused as she is on Daniel. "No," he says quietly. He's still uncomfortable talking about Daniel like he's not even there, though Daniel himself doesn't seem to mind. Jack casts around for a less depressing subject. "You and Teal'c have any luck?"
"A bit, Sir," Carter answers. "We found a source of fresh water to the South, and filled the canteens. The rain's been steady, though, so we couldn't find much dry wood. Oh," she pauses fractionally before barrelling on, "and Teal'c caught a fish."
That draws Jack's attention. He looks carefully at Carter, checking her face to make sure she's not joking. She breathes a faint laugh at his reaction. "It's not very big, but it's something. We'll have to set up the fire in the front room. No way we can cook outside tonight." Having completed her status report Carter shifts to rise. Jack puts a hand on her knee to stop her. She freezes. Jack feels her tense up, sees something dark and shapeless flit behind her eyes. He removes the hand and uses it to lever himself up along the wall.
"You stay with him for a bit. Dry off a little," Jack tells her, "I'll help Teal'c." She nods, accepting it as an order. He tamps down the urge to remind her that the chain of command is rapidly losing all meaning. For her, it seems, it really hasn't.
"Hey, Daniel," she says gently, "How's your arm?" Jack watches her slide down the wall to settle by his side.
"Sam," he says. It's less a greeting and more a confirmation of her identity. She gets that, and nods. He looks at her, examining her face. She sketches a desperate smile, probably hoping the recognition means his condition is improving. He reaches up to touch her damp hair, smoothing a few errant strands behind her ear with a strange reverence. His fingers still when he catches sight of the bandage on his forearm. "Oh." His eyes go distant again, his brows lowering with the effort of recall, of sifting memory from... from whatever else is drifting around in his head right now.
Jack moves slowly toward the doorway, stupidly reluctant to leave. He needs to hear Daniel speaking, needs to know if he even remembers the flight from the Stargate.
"The Colonel did a pretty good job, didn't he?" Carter keeps her voice low and soothing as she gently coaxes Daniel's hand away from her hair. She skates a finger along the bandage as she sets his hand to rest on his thigh. "I bet you had no idea he could do first aid in a hailstorm."
Daniel blinks at her, then shifts his gaze to an unoccupied space in the middle of the room. Jack sighs and pushes the curtain aside before he hears Daniel's voice. "Jack," he says quietly. He's using the same tone - identification rather than direct address - but even so it's all Jack can do not to stride back over there and send Carter out to help Teal'c. With an effort he resists the urge and settles for watching Daniel stare into space.
"After we left," Daniel says slowly, deliberately, "before we were here. We... there was a rock, and my arm... I fell. I was bleeding. Jack told me..." and now suddenly Daniel's back in the room, looking Jack in the eye. Jack's never seen him like this, so grave and so... hopeless. Resignation permeates Daniel's words. "He told me to hold still. He said I should keep quiet..."
That's the most Jack's heard out of Daniel in days. Something near his ribs begins to ache dully. He turns resolutely and ducks out through the doorway. The curtain blocks his line of sight to Daniel, or it would if he were looking back to catch a glimpse. He strides out to find Teal'c, leaving behind the low murmur of Carter's voice humming in counterpoint to Daniel's stilted staccato.