Five More Things
I started to write this one for the sg1_five_things charity prompt, but then I completely failed to meet the deadline (didn't come up with the explanation for 3 and 4 until last night, and then had to tweak the whole thing cause the rhythm was off). That sucked, cause, you know, charity, but at least I finished it eventually. Also? Not mine, just playing.
Five Principles Vala Follows (or thinks she does)
1. Never refuse a gift
Vala is not the type to refuse a gift--unless it's ticking, of course, or laced with poison, or comes with too many emotional strings attached--but then, those aren't really gifts so much as completely unfair attempts to take advantage of her trusting nature. ("What do you mean I don't have a trusting nature?" Vala asks. "I trust treasure maps all the time.") The point is that she would never refuse a gift out of a sense of false pride. In fact, she's entirely comfortable with coercing people into giving her presents as often as possible.
2. A girl can never be too rich
The Tau'ri have a maxim, "A girl can never be too rich or too thin," but Vala knows the second part of it is nonsense. She's been so thin that it actually hurt to sit down. That, in her book, qualifies as much too thin; and she's determined to never again be in a situation where getting enough food is a pressing concern. Riches, however, not only buy food; they also buy freedom, safety, and attention--and other real things that sparkle and shine.
3. Never let them see you cry
Crocodile tears are very useful to a girl out on her own in the big, bad galaxy. There's a certain kind of man who hates to see a woman cry, and will do anything, anything at all, to get her to stop. This is so useful that Vala has trained herself to conjure fake tears on demand. But. The other tears, the ones that come unbidden in the dark of the night, she never lets anyone see those.
4. The truth always has more than one interpretation
No, Vala never lets anyone see her cry, not really, but the tears have to come from somewhere, don't they? And so if she thinks about a particular episode in her past to make those waterworks as realistic as possible, well, that's nobody's business but her own. Besides, she's not letting them see anything truly real, as they well know when they wake up the next morning to missing valuables and an empty bed.
5. Always have an exit strategy
Vala will tell you that the first thing she does when she walks into a room is to catalogue the exits. After all, a girl's got to keep her options open--door, door, window, attractive man, other window, possible loose grate in the ceiling. This is something she does naturally, without even thinking about it; it comes from the years she spent trying to survive after the extraction of Qetesh. Since joining SG-1, however, the absence or presence of her team members and their position in the room have slowly crept into her mental tally. She would be surprised to realize that it's been months since she last thought about a way to get out of the mountain.
Five Principles Vala Follows (or thinks she does)
1. Never refuse a gift
Vala is not the type to refuse a gift--unless it's ticking, of course, or laced with poison, or comes with too many emotional strings attached--but then, those aren't really gifts so much as completely unfair attempts to take advantage of her trusting nature. ("What do you mean I don't have a trusting nature?" Vala asks. "I trust treasure maps all the time.") The point is that she would never refuse a gift out of a sense of false pride. In fact, she's entirely comfortable with coercing people into giving her presents as often as possible.
2. A girl can never be too rich
The Tau'ri have a maxim, "A girl can never be too rich or too thin," but Vala knows the second part of it is nonsense. She's been so thin that it actually hurt to sit down. That, in her book, qualifies as much too thin; and she's determined to never again be in a situation where getting enough food is a pressing concern. Riches, however, not only buy food; they also buy freedom, safety, and attention--and other real things that sparkle and shine.
3. Never let them see you cry
Crocodile tears are very useful to a girl out on her own in the big, bad galaxy. There's a certain kind of man who hates to see a woman cry, and will do anything, anything at all, to get her to stop. This is so useful that Vala has trained herself to conjure fake tears on demand. But. The other tears, the ones that come unbidden in the dark of the night, she never lets anyone see those.
4. The truth always has more than one interpretation
No, Vala never lets anyone see her cry, not really, but the tears have to come from somewhere, don't they? And so if she thinks about a particular episode in her past to make those waterworks as realistic as possible, well, that's nobody's business but her own. Besides, she's not letting them see anything truly real, as they well know when they wake up the next morning to missing valuables and an empty bed.
5. Always have an exit strategy
Vala will tell you that the first thing she does when she walks into a room is to catalogue the exits. After all, a girl's got to keep her options open--door, door, window, attractive man, other window, possible loose grate in the ceiling. This is something she does naturally, without even thinking about it; it comes from the years she spent trying to survive after the extraction of Qetesh. Since joining SG-1, however, the absence or presence of her team members and their position in the room have slowly crept into her mental tally. She would be surprised to realize that it's been months since she last thought about a way to get out of the mountain.