(Untitled)

[ranger_alone]

Marcus was sitting under a tree, within view of the compound he had no intention of entering. He had been walking, pondering everything and nothing, when he realised that the island had taken his last real friend when it sent Teyla back to…where ever it was people went when they left. Everyone he had loved, with the exception of Evey, had gone.

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[sgmitchell]

After the initial fit, the loss of Austin had faded to a dull ache in the back of his mind. A nagging reminder of the island's ruthlessness, and a reminder of exactly why he couldn't sit back and build that 'life' Morgan had talked about. He wasn't sure what the hell the alternative was anymore, but he was managing to keep himself from shutting into a daze

[ranger_alone]

Marcus returned the slight nod. "Good day for a run?" he asked. It wasn't original, as far as openers go, but it would suffice. "I had considered the idea myself."

[sgmitchell]

He gestured toward the sky with a small, amused smile. "Always a good day around here."

[ranger_alone]

"Well, with the exception of the December winters, I'd have to agree with you. It's hard enough walking knee deep in snow, much less trying to build up anything like speed." Marcus nodded toward the patch of grass next to him.

"Take a proper break."

[sgmitchell]

Cameron wasn't really in a break taking mood, but he was fairly certain saying no would be perceived as avoiding his IPD partner, and...did he really need a reputation for making trouble with his IPD partners? That could easily end up as a desk job.

Cameron nodded after a moment, meandering over to sit a reasonable distance from the man. "As much as I like a change of pace, I'd really rather not deal with that winter again."

[ranger_alone]

"Have you noticed that the snow always seems to take a large number of people with it?" He was thinking on one specifically, but now that he thought of it the idea seemed to hold.

[sgmitchell]

He frowned, letting his gaze fall to the grass, rather than the sky, and nodding. "Yeah...I've noticed that one."

He'd only been around for just this one time, but this once was more than enough to know. "Probably expects people to find it a worthy trade."

[ranger_alone]

"It will have to forgive me, but I do not." Marcus, suddenly needing something to do with his hands, gripped his knees. "Actually, I don't give a damn if the island forgives me or not. It seems you get punished either way. And Teyla..."

Brushing his hair out of his eyes, he looked up and stared outwards. Not at anything in particular, just away. "I somehow didn't expect it with Teyla."

[sgmitchell]

He frowned, glancing over toward the man. Teyla, and her unborn child. It'd been overshadowed by Brendan and Austin, but he hadn't forgotten. "That makes two of us, then. Fair weather doesn't make up for murder."

Vanishing he could live with. There wasn't anything else to call Teyla's and Austin's vanishing than murder, by the island's whim.

[ranger_alone]

"Murder." He echoed, trying the word on for size. "There are some that believe the people who disappear simply go back to their lives. You don't believe that?"

[sgmitchell]

He shrugged, glancing over at the man once more. "Maybe, maybe not. As far as I've heard...they go back unchanged from the point in time they arrived here. S'far as I know, she didn't arrive here pregnant."

He grimaced, studying the Compound in the distance. "And there's no other way to quantify sendin' back a unique person, a human like Austin back to enslavement and death."

[ranger_alone]

"Ah." He weighed up the options. It seemed in line with his new determination to ingratiate. "I'd be dead, too. Should the island send me back."

[sgmitchell]

That was disquieting. Morgan would have been as good as dead, as well. How many did the island bring in and then toss callously away at a whim?

"Then I hope you'll be sticking around here awhile longer."

[ranger_alone]

"You and me both. Although in some respects, despite everything, I sometimes consider the island almost like a gift. Karma playing itself out. I gave my lifeforce to another person so that they might survive, and I get to have this second chance at life." He sighed deeply. "Sometimes. Not now."

[sgmitchell]

"Guess that's really a matter of perception." One man's gift was another man's curse. And it didn't help convince Cameron that it's 'blessings' were extended and revoked purely for the island's own twisted form of entertainment. He wasn't sure what else one could call the shooter from earlier.

[ranger_alone]

Marcus was forced to agree, and lamented the fact that perception was all they really had. It wasn't like the island had offered any explanations up to him. "What would be waiting for you back where you come from?"