"Hey, Bob," Jill said softly when she entered the rec room, still a little wary around him, all things considered. Their last conversation hadn't exactly gone well and she wasn't sure what he knew, what he didn't. She wasn't sure what he felt or if he even wanted to talk to her at the moment, so she left that window open. If he wanted her to go, she would go.
For a second, Bob doesn't register her voice, his mouth slightly open as he watches the screen, watches the man he definitely met playing the role of William Shakespeare. The role. A fictionalized Shakespeare.
It's only when he notices a shadow that he turns his head, relieved to see Jill there instead of a familiar (but still unfamiliar) face. "Jill," he says, his tone quiet, a whispered awe before he looks back at the screen. "Have you seen this before?"
If there's any awkwardness left over from their last talk, it doesn't seem to be coming from Bob.
Glancing at the screen briefly to identify what Bob was watching, Jill found herself suddenly and overwhelmingly nervous, as if she was going to turn and find that he was watching their lives play out like she'd done only a few weeks ago. Relieved to see that he was watching a movie, she nodded after a moment.
"Shakespeare In Love," she replied, walking over to sit beside him on the couch. "Didn't she win an Oscar for this?"
"Who?" Bob asks without thinking before he realizes a second later that she must be talking about Gwenyth Paltrow. "Oh," he says and nods then as he scoots over just a little to give her room. "I think so, yes." He'd forgotten all about that, but he remembers now, everything coming back to him like he unlocked a door in his brain. "Best film, too. Best screenplay."
And he's still watching the screen, his brow furrowed in thought. "It's strange," he says, his voice still quiet. "I've met him."
Jane, now in the possession of her gliders and her sanity, had been to the bookshelf to return the lore and legend of fairy tales when she caught sight of Bob. She frowned, realising that his disposition was quite strange. "Sir?" she inquired lightly. "Are you quite all right?"
He starts a little at her voice, looking up quickly. Bob is never unhappy to see Jane, even if it's only for a few moments, but right now he feels awkward. He wonders if she has any idea that she's not real.
"Yes," he says and it's only partly a lie, his hands still clutching his sandwich before he swallows a bit and nods back at the screen. "Have you seen this before?" he asks curiously.
Jane kept a book about fair and good knights within her grasp as she turned her attention to the screen, shaking her head. "I have seen few and far between films," she admitted. "Only what Stuart shows me."
"It's a movie about William Shakespeare," he tells her, looking over at her again, watching her curiously. "Well, a fictionalized version of him," he clarifies quickly because that's the important part. It's not a documentary, it's entertainment.
"Hi Bob," says Mayko, sipping on a fruit smoothie as she finds him in the rec room with the film projector. She's still sweaty from doing some work outside, but that seems to be her constant state of being this week. "What are you watching?"
"Shakespeare in Love," Bob replies, not needing to look over to know he's speaking to Mayko. Even here, her voice calms him some and he seems to relax just a little. "Have you seen it before?"
"A few times," Mayko admits with a bit of a grin, taking a seat next to him and tucking one foot up under her. "Guilty pleasures and all that. Are you enjoying it?"
He answers only with a short nod, but it's not entirely the truth. Not to say it isn't a movie he wouldn't enjoy under other circumstances, but right now, his heart isn't entirely in it.
"I've met him," he says after a moment, nodding at the screen again. "William Shakespeare. Not the real one, but that one. Him."
"Bob?" Daniel asked cautiously. He'd walked inside and saw the movie playing but didn't recognize which movie it was. Then he saw Bob. "You look like you've been hit by a 2 x 4. Are you all right?"
Bob starts a little at the voice, his head turning quickly to see Daniel standing and watching him and for a moment he just stares. Is Daniel fictional too? He remembers from when they'd talked before, remembers that strange feeling of him being familiar, but not and feels himself start to get tense all over.
"I, uhm--" he starts and turns his head again, focusing once more on the screen in front of him. "I don't know," he finally answers honestly.
"Easy," he murmured, practically feeling the tension in the room. He went over and sat on the edge of the couch, watching the screen in front of him. "Why don't we start with you telling me what we're watching? I don't think I've ever seen it before."
Although that wasn't much of a surprise, since he'd rarely seen movies on his own impetus. Usually Sam or Jack or, once or twice, Teal'c had made him watch something.
"It's called Shakespeare in Love," Bob tells him with a quick nod, still staring straight ahead. "It stars Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush and Judi Dench and is written by the same man who penned Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." It's amazing how now all that knowledge is rushing back to him, how it hadn't been there when he'd talked to William Shakespeare himself, but is there now, like a door has been opened.
David almost reconsidered walking into the room; he was tired and had a headache, and desperately did not want to hear any more about going home, or trying to figure out how to go home, or whether or not he thought going home was even possible.
But Bob's face was doing strange things. And he didn't feel comfortable just walking out on that.
"Okay," he said, sinking down onto the couch. "Is the sandwich bad, or is there something else going on?"
"Hmm?" Bob asks, glancing down at his sandwich and then over at David with a puzzled expression, lips tugged into a frown. After a moment he shakes his head and then looks at the screen again, nodding toward it. "I'm just watching a movie," he explains. "It's about William Shakespeare."
And that's all he offers for now, waiting a moment to see if David could follow him.
"I... see that," he said, glancing at the screen. "Saw that when it came out. It wasn't that good, but it wasn't bad enough to make you make a face like that." Which wasn't entirely fair; Bob's face hadn't really suggested that he was at all disgusted by what he saw. He had been looking--and still looked--more slightly nonplussed than anything else.
Bob's lips tug into a frown again and he sneaks a glance at David as he tries to work out just how he can word this without the conversation ending with David yelling at him.
After hesitating for awhile, he finally sucks in a quiet breath and then nods at the screen. "I've met him," he says, his voice sure even as he feels entirely unnerved. "Not Joseph Fiennes, but him. William Shakespeare. That one."
Comments 122
Reply
It's only when he notices a shadow that he turns his head, relieved to see Jill there instead of a familiar (but still unfamiliar) face. "Jill," he says, his tone quiet, a whispered awe before he looks back at the screen. "Have you seen this before?"
If there's any awkwardness left over from their last talk, it doesn't seem to be coming from Bob.
Reply
"Shakespeare In Love," she replied, walking over to sit beside him on the couch. "Didn't she win an Oscar for this?"
Reply
And he's still watching the screen, his brow furrowed in thought. "It's strange," he says, his voice still quiet. "I've met him."
Reply
Reply
"Yes," he says and it's only partly a lie, his hands still clutching his sandwich before he swallows a bit and nods back at the screen. "Have you seen this before?" he asks curiously.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
"I've met him," he says after a moment, nodding at the screen again. "William Shakespeare. Not the real one, but that one. Him."
Reply
Reply
"I, uhm--" he starts and turns his head again, focusing once more on the screen in front of him. "I don't know," he finally answers honestly.
Reply
Although that wasn't much of a surprise, since he'd rarely seen movies on his own impetus. Usually Sam or Jack or, once or twice, Teal'c had made him watch something.
Reply
Reply
But Bob's face was doing strange things. And he didn't feel comfortable just walking out on that.
"Okay," he said, sinking down onto the couch. "Is the sandwich bad, or is there something else going on?"
Reply
And that's all he offers for now, waiting a moment to see if David could follow him.
Reply
Reply
After hesitating for awhile, he finally sucks in a quiet breath and then nods at the screen. "I've met him," he says, his voice sure even as he feels entirely unnerved. "Not Joseph Fiennes, but him. William Shakespeare. That one."
Reply
Leave a comment