A Mini-Midlife Crisis

[hi_there_aliens]

Where to start? He had to resist the urge to pick at the little square bandage on his forehead or the stitches. Daniel put his hands on his hips, where they couldn't get anywhere near his head, and surveyed what was going to temporarily be his domain. Until he got kicked out, at least, but until then, he was determined to squat here. As makeshift

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[hi_there_aliens]

Maybe he should keep the door closed. Put a sign on it that said Archaeologist at Work: Beware of Mummies. Or "Mummies at Play", but that was too cheesy. But he should get a sign. It might spare people the nasty shock of finding a dessicated corpse on a table. Sometimes he forgot that dead bodies bothered most people. Howard's reaction wasn't atypical. And neither was this stranger's

[hi_there_aliens]

"I'm not a grave robber," Daniel cut in heatedly. No. Just no. He was not going to get labeled with them. Grave robbers took for personal gain, to profit off of on the black market or whatever reason. Archaeologist's removed finds to learn from, to preserve, and more importantly, to understand and then share with the world. "I'm an archaeologist. There's a big difference. If you don't know what it is, maybe you should look it up before making accusations."

Draugur. Aptrgangr, again-walkers. Daniel didn't believe in them. It also wasn't his business to tell the teenager what to believe when it came to his own culture, so Daniel didn't. But he didn't believe in draugur any more than he believed in zombies. Maybe there could be something to Egyptian curses. Even if it sounded ridiculous, he had a feeling almost every Egyptology harbored a tiny amount of superstition. That was different. It seemed like everyone connected to the crew that opened King Tutankhamun's died shortly after. You never knew for sure

[livestoannoy]

Marco hadn't actually intended to go to the Science Department at all. It wasn't exactly his thing; he left that stuff up to Ax. But then when he was walking along the hallway just outside, it appeared.

The otter.

There it was, standing in the middle of the corridor like it owned the place and looking up at him with those beady little evil eyes. Marco only had half a second before the thing launched himself at him. Cursing, Marco lunged to the side, darting to get through the nearest door - the one leading towards the Science Department.

But the otter was too quick, and before he could shut the door on the stupid thing's face it latched onto his the end of his jeans. Letting out a stream of profanity that he would really appreciate Daniel not telling his mother about, Marco shook his leg, trying to get the otter off. (And possibly to try and kick it too. Just a little.)

[hi_there_aliens]

"Menkaure." Daniel called out sharply. The otter reluctantly let go of Marco and backed off like a furry caterpillar. It retreated behind Daniel's legs and glared at the boy from around them.

Call him insane, but Daniel found out quickly that the otter only seemed to respond favorably to Ancient Egyptian. It didn't seem to care for "Otter". Daniel didn't blame it. It was unimaginative as names went. He didn't think it understood anything he was saying, but the sound of the language seemed to do something for it. Anything would've done. Daniel wasn't going to name it some Abydonian swear word, that was cruel, so after some thought, he'd tried some names, before settling on Menkaure, the pharaoh who ordered the smallest of the Giza pyramids.

"You didn't try to pet it or something, did you?"

[livestoannoy]

Marco glared back at the otter. Yeah, he's looking at you, you psycho furball.

"That thing is evil," he growled, looking like he trying to get lasers to come out of his eyes and fry the otter. "Like hell I'm going to try and pet it." Tearing his eyes away from That Otter for a moment, he looked up at Daniel, his expression dubious. That guy had called the otter...something. Marco hadn't really caught it. "Don't tell me you actually named it. That goddamn otter is..."

Marco trailed off, frowning. Hang on, this guy was familiar. He'd talked to him before - the memories were a little fuzzy, like they were from years ago when he was a kid, when really they weren't from that long ago at all. They'd been in Cassie house, with pancakes, and Marco had been deaged to about six. The guy had really towered over Marco then.

"Hey, aren't you that dude with the boots?" he said, remembering running around in a pair of boots that had been way too big for him. "You're one of Mom's friends."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel looked down at the otter. It almost coiled possessively around his legs, as if to say, this was its food factory, stay away. He looked up to find Marco glaring at the otter, as if to say, bring it. Maybe he should step out from between them and let them at it. He was feeling a little like a car stuck before an oncoming train. Two of them. The otter's beady eyes tilted up at him and Daniel muttered another warning, 'Menkaure' at it.

"It's just an animal. It can't be evil," Daniel said. He cocked his head. There was a certain familiarity to the kid. Like he saw him before. Or someone who looked a lot like him.

The boots jogged his memory. The last time he saw him, he'd been about six, had commandeered his boots, and asked him question after question. Like why he studied old people.

"You're Marco?" Daniel blurted out.

[youmissed]

After Moya and all the other weird ships he'd been on, John thought he had this down to a science. Explore ship tier by tier. (Learn to open the doors and use the bathroom: always Step 1 and Step 2 in his book). Find any fire exits. Keep your hands and arms inside at all times. Remember stranger danger with any aliens giving you the eye, especially if they tried to knife you. Or have wild alien sex with you. Maybe shake things up with wild alien sex + knifing. Tended to get all kinds of awkward then.

Yeah, John Crichton totally had this.

He liked to think he was a positive guy. Couldn't get back home? Fine, okay, he'd go with the other options of Don't Get Killed By Scorpius and Don't Die of Alien Food Poisoning on Moya. Considering most of the time he just had food cubes, you really, really, really had to make an effort to get food poisoning. So yeah. Being told his home world might be destroyed but it was possible to bring it back, John tried to take a glass half full attitude about it. First things first. Figure his way out

[hi_there_aliens]

He was going to lock the door. If not just to avoid people who were going to have a fit at seeing a mummified remain, or who were going to accuse him of grave robbing, it was going to be so he could lock people out who thought calling him Doctor Jones was funny every time. Daniel threw the safety goggles onto a tray with a lot more force than was required.

"Yes, there's someone in here, and if you're going to keep up with the Indiana Jones jokes, the door's right behind you," Daniel called over his shoulder.

Getting a lock as soon as this guy either stayed or left. That was what he was going to do. He was not going to move onto the next artifact. Or catalog it.

[youmissed]

Touchy guy.

The fact that he also got the reference felt like a kick in the gut. John tried to get used to that feeling. Most of the time he got blank looks when he whipped out the Pop Culture Essentials and having someone actually know what he was talking about was like a breath of fresh air. Either that brief on the omnicomm was right and this ship could pull people from across space and time and dimensions or it could at least go long-distance and reach Earth. John couldn't say he exactly felt like he was at home -- hard to when you had to sleep in what he tried not to imagine was a snot chute -- but he did feel that homesickness get a bit more manageable.

John held up his hands. "Hey, I didn't know anyone was in here. These all yours?" He glanced at the stuff, which was actually looking like it was stuff you could get from Space Temple of Doom. John wisely kept from making that observation. He stepped over what looked like a tennis raquet on crack, careful not to disturb anything, and held out his hand. "Hi. John Crichton. New

[hi_there_aliens]

No more Indiana Jones jokes. This looked promising. Daniel removed a glove and reached out and took the offered hand. "Daniel Jackson. Archaeologist."

Sense of humor at least. Who put their title as 'new guy'?Built, blue eyes, a heavy brow ridge, Daniel thought idly. John looked human. But So did a lot of the people on Stacy, come to think of it. Strange, you'd think there would be more variation if Stacy was pulling people from all universes and planets.

"I wouldn't call them 'mine', but I'm in charge of them." No one owned them but the planet they came from and the dead civilization. Crichton took in the mummified remains, and unlike Hiccup, handled it better. Maybe because it took him a moment to realize what shape he was looking at, but once he appeared to realize what it was, he took it rather well.

[makeherblue]

The Doctor wasn't much for knocking. Not quite his thing, knocking. He could do it when he absolutely had to, but he rather preferred letting himself in and cutting out the middleman

[hi_there_aliens]

"Actually, I haven't." Yet. Damn you Doctor. He'd been thinking some potentials over. The nice thing about Menkaure was that the otter seemed like a Doctor trip alarm system. It gave Daniel plenty of time to prepare for the oncoming storm and move all the most fragile artifacts out of the path of destruction that was the Doctor.

The otter slid off somewhere. Daniel didn't know where it went half the time, only that it always came back. Usually for food, it knew a good deal when it- he? saw one, but sometimes he would curl around Daniel's ankles as he worked.

Daniel set the brush down, reaching over to adjust a light so he could see better.

"Besides, it seems disrespectful calling it a corpse all the time. Or Remains BX-19 or something like that. There's more dignity to a name."

[makeherblue]

Ah, consider him surprised then! After all, from his experience archaeologists are always in a hurry to go naming things, usually wrong (and worst, boring) names, and he admitted he thought Daniel would be in a hurry to do just that. Daniel's explanation was startling, but he thought he rather liked it. Power in a name. True sometimes. Probably not here, but sometimes true. And maybe Daniel was being humanly sentimental, too, because in other cases, a corpse was just a corpse. "Recycling", he'd told Rose Tyler once, lifetimes ago

[hi_there_aliens]

Maybe not, but the dead were dead. He couldn't ask him or her or it or all of the above what the alien preferred to be called. Daniel would jump if he had the chance to ask.

"Just like you helped on the dig?" Daniel asked. There wasn't any annoyance or sarcasm (maybe a little sarcasm) but curiosity. The Doctor had been like trying to direct a hyperactive five year old to work, or a bored cat, and alongside dealing with John, both had been trouble in their own ways. Daniel was convinced that the only reason the Doctor got any work was because of Captain Eneesh.

done He couldn't imagine the Doctor getting anything out of the "boring" parts of archaeology, which consisted of everything except the possibility of traps or explosions. That in itself was probably the reason the Doctor was actually here, rather than a sudden interest in his field.

[vissernone]

Eva looks better than the last time he saw her. She's showered, she's brushed her hair and clipped it up, she's put some of her self-inflicted injuries out of sight with lipstick and powder. Her flesh still looks like a curtain between her and the world, as if she's somewhere else entirely, with only her physical body to anchor her to whatever location she's actually in. Haunted, maybe. Clouded

[hi_there_aliens]

A minute or two passed before Daniel came to the door, finally pulled away from the sarcophagus. He had the closest thing he could find to a surgical mask, gloves, and safety goggles over his glasses. As he drew closer, he pulled the goggles off and let them drop around his neck. Daniel slowed for a fraction for a second, then continued to the doorway. Eva. What was she doing here

[vissernone]

Her mouth's halfway open when she realizes that she doesn't quite have an answer for that. She sighs and pushes that breath out through pouted lips in an expression of deep irritation at herself.

Because I don't know what I am, so I'd at least like to know what we are.

She wraps an arm around her waist and frowns. "What, visiting hours only go one way? I can only talk to you if we're going through the motions of guilt and punishment?"

She cringes at herself, between how slurred the last half of that question came out and how accusatory it sounds. "Sorry. You'd think I'd be in a better mood, what with being off my leash again."

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel opened his mouth to tell her that she brought it on herself, no one forced her to rip a man's face apart, just as no one made her use him to do it, but thought better of it. Then he sniffed. It was a barely perceptible motion, but it brought him up short. That was a whiff of alcohol. It had to be. Eva had been drinking before she decided to come up here? What happened to alcohol wasn't a problem for her, not a solution to life's problems