ficlet: "One night in Athos" SGA in the True Blood 'verse AU (Sparky!)
Title: One night in Athos
Author: Oparu
Rating: PG
Pairing: Elizabeth Weir/John Sheppard
Spoilers: none
Word Count: 1314
Summary: In a True Blood style universe, John works in a coffee shop to pay rent. One night his first vampire walks in...
Notes: for ankareeda with my apologies if you don't watch True Blood. You really don't need to know much.
Vampires can drink synthetic blood, so they're 'out of the coffin.'
I wanted to play with the normal girl falls for sexy vampire. Normal/dorky boy falls for sexy vampire. (clearly, she had to be played by Torri Higginson)
Elizabeth Weir looked up at her waiter in surprise. He smiled down at her, no trace of fear in his face. He was attractive enough for a human, brimming with the kind of life energy that made her mouth water.
She was mainstreaming and among her kind, it was about as popular as understood as veganism in a culture that revolved around the barbeque. Though, vegetables could be barbequed, so she didn't quite understand the comparison.
One of the young ones had used it, and though she appreciated the young man's sentiment. The younger generations were much more accustomed to alternate lifestyles and already had cute nicknames for those vampires who had decided to live among humans. Ranging from Sparklers, which made no sense to her at all and had something to do with some dreadful motion picture, to TBs, humanists, synthsuckers, mainstreamers, and bottlers.
Synthsuckers had a funny ring to it, and she'd never be able to introduce herself as that. Humanist was the least offensive, but it did make it sound more like she fed on humans instead of avoiding them. Not that she had much cause to speak about it. As one of the older vampires in Area Twenty-Seven, she was left mostly alone. Unlike the more popular metropolises, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and even Dallas, Minneapolis was light on vampires.
Well, most of the time. There was a definite rise in population during the long, dark winters, but the short summer nights and quieter surroundings didn't attract many permanent residents.
That was how the King liked it. He preferred to spend his time fishing and he got a lot more of that done in a quiet little area like Twenty-Seven. His Sheriff spent most of her time explaining how to prevent frostbite in the newborn and keeping the winter riffraff in line.
The human needed a response before he would leave her to her dinner and her book.
Elizabeth smiled up at him, the gesture becoming genuine as she realised his hair was impossibly scruffy. At first, she'd thought it was gel, but with him close again, she could see his dark locks just refused to lie against his head. It was cute.
Even charming.
"Pardon me?"
She had to remind herself to stick with a bland, midwestern accent. Her native one drew far too much attention. Sam, the Sheriff, was happier if everyone blended in.
The scruffy haired, green eyed, thoroughly too adorable waiter, gestured towards her mug. "Your type-O positive. I put it in a mug, just in case you wanted to be a little less conspicuous. Think it stays warmer that way too."
The mug itself had little green cats playing on a white background. It was cute, in that odd modern way. It was far from a hand-carved flagon, but she had the suspicion he'd been nice.
Elizabeth took a moment to recover. Humans being nice to anyone who was obviously a vampire was rare enough that she didn't know how to react.
For someone her age, not knowing how to react was exciting.
Much like his hair.
Which she had to stop looking at.
"Thank you." Elizabeth barely managed not to stammer, and there may have been too much Eastern Europe in her accent.
"Just wave me down if you need a refill or want me to put it back in the microwave."
Her waiter smiled again and turned to check his other tables. Elizabeth watched his ass in his just tight-enough jeans and nearly had to pull her fangs out of her bottom lip.
How long had it been since Simon? Half a century? Maybe a whole one? The last time she'd had sex, jeans didn't do anything like that to the male physique.
Nothing remotely.
She picked up her mug of blood and her sip turned into a gulp. The faintly metallic taste of the True Blood ran down her throat. It wasn't blood. It didn't have the same delicious, vibrating kind of life in it, but it kept her alive and let her be part of society.
Human society was important to her because it was different. She'd studied humans, their cultures and languages, for centuries of her own long existence, and living among them was exciting on more than just an intellectual level. It was different. They surprised her much more than vampires did. Her own kind, their rules and their deeply entrenched cultural norms were stagnant compared to humans and their quick little lives.
The life of her waiter in particular was of great interest.
"Is she?" Rodney demanded when John returned to the espresso machine.
"Is she what, Rodney?"
Teyla eyed him over her paperwork and smiled. "He means a vampire, he is just afraid to use the word."
"She ordered True Blood." Rodney argued nervously. "She's not just ordering it to have it sit there and go cold for five dollars a bottle."
"Maybe she is." Ronon grinned at Kate next to him in the kitchen. "Maybe John overcooked it in the microwave."
"I followed the directions!" John protested and rolled his eyes as he started his latte. The hiss of the espresso machine wasn't enough to drown out the thoughts of his fellow staff.
Of course, everyone he knew had to work at a little coffee bar and restaurant called Athos. Teyla had run it since it opened. Ronon and Kate cooked, with the former doing the food and the latter learning towards pastries. Rodney, his fellow PhD student at the University of Minnesota, was in the physics department and worked at Athos to pay the rent on the apartment they shared. John was in the math department and he was getting ever closer to finishing his thesis and getting his doctorate. Not that he really intended on leaving, or really doing much other than slipping comfortably into a job lecturing about calculus and linear algebra.
The department usually had an opening.
John liked math because it had puzzles he could figure out. He also liked flying because it got him up away from the minds of his fellow human beings. Who all had the annoying habit of thinking in a way that John could hear.
Ronon was happily contemplating the gig he was headed to after work. Teyla was thinking about Kate, as she had been since the two of them had stopped flirting and started dating. Kate was also thinking about Teyla, and John had to jump to the familiar quiet nerdy safe zone of Rodney's head.
Which was thinking about physics. Rodney's head was nearly always thinking about physics; that made him an excellent roommate for an unfortunately telepathic grad student. It had even helped John get through a couple exams. Not that he cheated, that was wrong, he just...collected information as he went. Some of it osmotic, most of it useless.
Except...he couldn't hear her. Not at all. While the slender, elegant vampire drank her blood from the mug with happy green cats, she was silent. Completely blank.
And he wanted her. She was fascinating even though she could kill him, or melt him into a pile of goo, or whatever it was that vampires did...
John wanted her.
When he approached her table, licking blood from her perfectly red lips, the vampire looked up at him.
"Hello John."
She'd read his mind. Dear sweet Lords of the Sith--
The vampire's eyes were on his chest, his name tag. She'd read his name tag.
"Yeah, I'm John."
He sounded like an idiot.
"Elizabeth." She offered, smiling. "Elizabeth Weir. I am most pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I uh-" He had to stop sounding like a moron before she ate him. The thought of her fangs piercing his neck made him think he hadn't dared contemplate outside his dreams.
"It's uh- nice to meet you too."
Author: Oparu
Rating: PG
Pairing: Elizabeth Weir/John Sheppard
Spoilers: none
Word Count: 1314
Summary: In a True Blood style universe, John works in a coffee shop to pay rent. One night his first vampire walks in...
Notes: for ankareeda with my apologies if you don't watch True Blood. You really don't need to know much.
Vampires can drink synthetic blood, so they're 'out of the coffin.'
I wanted to play with the normal girl falls for sexy vampire. Normal/dorky boy falls for sexy vampire. (clearly, she had to be played by Torri Higginson)
Elizabeth Weir looked up at her waiter in surprise. He smiled down at her, no trace of fear in his face. He was attractive enough for a human, brimming with the kind of life energy that made her mouth water.
She was mainstreaming and among her kind, it was about as popular as understood as veganism in a culture that revolved around the barbeque. Though, vegetables could be barbequed, so she didn't quite understand the comparison.
One of the young ones had used it, and though she appreciated the young man's sentiment. The younger generations were much more accustomed to alternate lifestyles and already had cute nicknames for those vampires who had decided to live among humans. Ranging from Sparklers, which made no sense to her at all and had something to do with some dreadful motion picture, to TBs, humanists, synthsuckers, mainstreamers, and bottlers.
Synthsuckers had a funny ring to it, and she'd never be able to introduce herself as that. Humanist was the least offensive, but it did make it sound more like she fed on humans instead of avoiding them. Not that she had much cause to speak about it. As one of the older vampires in Area Twenty-Seven, she was left mostly alone. Unlike the more popular metropolises, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and even Dallas, Minneapolis was light on vampires.
Well, most of the time. There was a definite rise in population during the long, dark winters, but the short summer nights and quieter surroundings didn't attract many permanent residents.
That was how the King liked it. He preferred to spend his time fishing and he got a lot more of that done in a quiet little area like Twenty-Seven. His Sheriff spent most of her time explaining how to prevent frostbite in the newborn and keeping the winter riffraff in line.
The human needed a response before he would leave her to her dinner and her book.
Elizabeth smiled up at him, the gesture becoming genuine as she realised his hair was impossibly scruffy. At first, she'd thought it was gel, but with him close again, she could see his dark locks just refused to lie against his head. It was cute.
Even charming.
"Pardon me?"
She had to remind herself to stick with a bland, midwestern accent. Her native one drew far too much attention. Sam, the Sheriff, was happier if everyone blended in.
The scruffy haired, green eyed, thoroughly too adorable waiter, gestured towards her mug. "Your type-O positive. I put it in a mug, just in case you wanted to be a little less conspicuous. Think it stays warmer that way too."
The mug itself had little green cats playing on a white background. It was cute, in that odd modern way. It was far from a hand-carved flagon, but she had the suspicion he'd been nice.
Elizabeth took a moment to recover. Humans being nice to anyone who was obviously a vampire was rare enough that she didn't know how to react.
For someone her age, not knowing how to react was exciting.
Much like his hair.
Which she had to stop looking at.
"Thank you." Elizabeth barely managed not to stammer, and there may have been too much Eastern Europe in her accent.
"Just wave me down if you need a refill or want me to put it back in the microwave."
Her waiter smiled again and turned to check his other tables. Elizabeth watched his ass in his just tight-enough jeans and nearly had to pull her fangs out of her bottom lip.
How long had it been since Simon? Half a century? Maybe a whole one? The last time she'd had sex, jeans didn't do anything like that to the male physique.
Nothing remotely.
She picked up her mug of blood and her sip turned into a gulp. The faintly metallic taste of the True Blood ran down her throat. It wasn't blood. It didn't have the same delicious, vibrating kind of life in it, but it kept her alive and let her be part of society.
Human society was important to her because it was different. She'd studied humans, their cultures and languages, for centuries of her own long existence, and living among them was exciting on more than just an intellectual level. It was different. They surprised her much more than vampires did. Her own kind, their rules and their deeply entrenched cultural norms were stagnant compared to humans and their quick little lives.
The life of her waiter in particular was of great interest.
"Is she?" Rodney demanded when John returned to the espresso machine.
"Is she what, Rodney?"
Teyla eyed him over her paperwork and smiled. "He means a vampire, he is just afraid to use the word."
"She ordered True Blood." Rodney argued nervously. "She's not just ordering it to have it sit there and go cold for five dollars a bottle."
"Maybe she is." Ronon grinned at Kate next to him in the kitchen. "Maybe John overcooked it in the microwave."
"I followed the directions!" John protested and rolled his eyes as he started his latte. The hiss of the espresso machine wasn't enough to drown out the thoughts of his fellow staff.
Of course, everyone he knew had to work at a little coffee bar and restaurant called Athos. Teyla had run it since it opened. Ronon and Kate cooked, with the former doing the food and the latter learning towards pastries. Rodney, his fellow PhD student at the University of Minnesota, was in the physics department and worked at Athos to pay the rent on the apartment they shared. John was in the math department and he was getting ever closer to finishing his thesis and getting his doctorate. Not that he really intended on leaving, or really doing much other than slipping comfortably into a job lecturing about calculus and linear algebra.
The department usually had an opening.
John liked math because it had puzzles he could figure out. He also liked flying because it got him up away from the minds of his fellow human beings. Who all had the annoying habit of thinking in a way that John could hear.
Ronon was happily contemplating the gig he was headed to after work. Teyla was thinking about Kate, as she had been since the two of them had stopped flirting and started dating. Kate was also thinking about Teyla, and John had to jump to the familiar quiet nerdy safe zone of Rodney's head.
Which was thinking about physics. Rodney's head was nearly always thinking about physics; that made him an excellent roommate for an unfortunately telepathic grad student. It had even helped John get through a couple exams. Not that he cheated, that was wrong, he just...collected information as he went. Some of it osmotic, most of it useless.
Except...he couldn't hear her. Not at all. While the slender, elegant vampire drank her blood from the mug with happy green cats, she was silent. Completely blank.
And he wanted her. She was fascinating even though she could kill him, or melt him into a pile of goo, or whatever it was that vampires did...
John wanted her.
When he approached her table, licking blood from her perfectly red lips, the vampire looked up at him.
"Hello John."
She'd read his mind. Dear sweet Lords of the Sith--
The vampire's eyes were on his chest, his name tag. She'd read his name tag.
"Yeah, I'm John."
He sounded like an idiot.
"Elizabeth." She offered, smiling. "Elizabeth Weir. I am most pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I uh-" He had to stop sounding like a moron before she ate him. The thought of her fangs piercing his neck made him think he hadn't dared contemplate outside his dreams.
"It's uh- nice to meet you too."